HEALTH Minister Terrence Deyalsingh implored people to protect their loved ones from covid19 infection by not congregating for Mother's Day on Sunday, addressing a briefing at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann's on Friday.

"If we treat Mother's Day as another excuse to gather at the homes of our mothers, we may not have those mothers for Mothers Day 2022.

"If you love your mother, Mother's Day 2021 is the mother's day where you show your love by staying away."

Deyalsingh said some who were direly ill with covid19 were finally admitting breaching covid19 precautions.

"People are now making death-bed confessions. I went to a party, I had a party, I went to a lime," he related.

Dr Michelle Trotman, Thoracic Medical Director at the Caura Hospital, said she came with a heavy heart as the typical patient profile has now shifted to that of a person aged 30, 35 or 40. While previously most covid19 patients were elderly people with mild symptoms, she said, "The vast proportion of our patients are now coming in very ill."

Trotman said ill patients often to admit to having attended parties and gatherings. "These patients when they are ill volunteer a lot more than when they are well. Quite frankly, it's frightening. You enter, after you are ill, a point of fear." She hoped people would not know someone with covid19 who died, as she implored people to take simple steps to save their own lives in the face of a disease taking away the future of our country. "Clinically we are seeing patients who are not only more ill but they are taking a longer time to get better." Trotman pleaded for the public's health.

She said managing a covid19 patient was far more demanding on nurses and doctors than a normal patient due to the threat if getting infected themselves.

"In the run of the day you have to not only take care of the patient but you have to take care of yourself to ensure you could come back to take care of more tomorrow."

The need to sanitise for each patients delays the medical staff in their work, she added.

"I know we can do this with everyone on board, but I want you to think about the challenge it is for our healthcare workers, that are doing this day in, day out, second in, second out," Trotman pleaded. "We may not be that person's mother or father but it's our patient. It matters to us that they get better and when they don't, it has a psychological effect on us as healthcare workers."

She thanked each healthcare worker who was giving their life, soul and blood in this pandemic, and begged people to mask and sanitise.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram said compared to last year, the covid19 virus now has much greater transmission. He said recent measures to curb the spread have not yet worked due to the new variant and the fact of people continuing to congregate. He urged people to wear their masks.

Epidemiologist Dr Avery Hinds said 37 per cent of people tested prove positive for covid19. He said the peak age group for infection was now 25-49 years, which group comprised 56 per cent of new

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