HEALTH Minister Terrence Deyalsingh has confirmed local community spread of the highly transmissible delta variant in TT.
And with only 33 per cent of the eligible population fully vaccinated against covid19, he said the country is not in a good place to deal with the delta variant and urged that now is the time to get vaccinated.
Speaking at the Health Ministry's covid19 media conference on Monday, Deyalsingh said the three newest cases of the variant had no recent travel history. These three cases brought to ten, the number of people known to have the delta variant.
He said there are 1.1 million people in TT who are eligible to be vaccinated, consisting of 90,000 people between 12-18 who are in school, another 10,000 in that age bracket who were not in school, and one million adults over 18.
'Up to Sunday, 558,811 people or 39.9 per cent of the population were vaccinated. The number of people with two doses is 464,129, which is 33.4 per cent. Of the 1.1 million people eligible, 558,811 have gotten their first dose, including 37,998, approximately 40,000, of people 12-18.
'Therefore you have an adult population of approximately 501-520,000 who are unvaccinated. It means that those 18 and over are making up the bulk of our ICU patients, the bulk of the patients in home quarantine, the bulk of fatalities.
"If you don't make the decision now to be vaccinated, in the context of two known cases of the delta variant among citizens of TT, and one with a Venezuelan migrant, as we have been saying all along, the delta variant is more transmissible, which means it moves from person-to-person and within communities faster, the outcomes are much more grave. Now that we have these cases of the delta variant in TT with no known travel history, the time is now.'
He said the Ministry of Health's medical team and every NGO in the country has been talking about getting vaccinated, the RHAs have been talking to people one by one, and many religious leaders have all come out in support of vaccinations.
He said less than 50 per cent of the school age population had been vaccinated, with many children wanting to be vaccinated but unfortunately their parents saw it differently.
'We should by now have been up to 60 per cent of people with their first shot. We are not in a good position to fight the delta variant which is wreaking havoc worldwide. I'm hoping against hope that the population is not becoming numb to the daily announcements of four, five, six deaths. Even though the numbers are smaller than they were, those are still families that are hurting and because it's not close to you, it doesn't mean that you don't need to take care of yourself.'
He said the rolling seven-day average is 199, and people are getting comfortable. He said the rate of vaccination has slowed and keeps dropping week by week.
CMO Dr Roshan Parasram said the delta variant is known to be twice as transmissible as the Alpha or UK variant, and four times as transmissible as the original Wuhan virus, with an increased risk of hospit
