THE visible increase in activity at vaccination sites around the country this week – in the wake of the Prime Minister's announcement last Saturday that public servants not vaxxed by mid-January face being sent home without pay – isn't necessarily citizens including public servants seeking the jab for the first time or for the second dose.
The Health Ministry’s covid19 update on Tuesday showed that 4,379 people turned out for the additional primary (2nd dose) and booster (3rd dose) shots between Monday and Tuesday, compared to 580 between Sunday and Monday.
As hospitals continue to be overcrowded, an additional 27 deaths were recorded on Tuesday, bringing the overall death toll to 2,639. There were 723 cases recorded on Tuesday from samples taken between December 17-20.
The ministry’s Tuesday update said the number of active cases is now 15,778.
Since March 2020, there have been 86,596 cases of covid19, of which 68,179 have recovered. It said the people who died on Tuesday were 17 elderly men, four elderly women, four middle-aged men, one young adult man and one young adult woman.
[caption id="attachment_930703" align="alignnone" width="1024"] THIRD TIMERS: Maria Mohammed, left, and Sherida Mohammed after they got their third covid19 vaccine (booster) dose on Tuesday at the Paddock, Queen's Park Savannah in Port of Spain. Photo by Sureash Cholai -[/caption]
It said 15 of these people had multiple comorbidities, including a mix of diabetes, hypertension, epilepsy, Downs Syndrome, obesity, thyroid disease, heart disease, lung disease, kidney disease, asthma, and cancer.
Ten people each had only either one of the mentioned comorbidities or Parkinsons Disease, while two people had no known comorbidities.
There are 523 patients in hospital. Of these, there are 103 people at the Couva Hospital and Multi-Training Facility, with 21 in the intensive care unit and 28 in the high dependency unit.
There are 81 people at the Caura Hospital, 51 at the Augustus Long Hospital, 24 at the St Ann’s Hospital, 67 at the Arima General Hospital, 92 at the new Point Fortin Hospital, 55 at the St James Medical Complex, 44 at the Scarborough Regional Hospital, Fort King George and six at the Scarborough Regional Hospital, Signal Hill.
There are 194 patients in step-down facilities, with none at the Claxton Bay Correctional Facility, 56 at UWI Debe, 33 at UTT Valsayn, 29 at the Point Fortin Area Hospital, 28 at the Port of Spain field hospital, 28 at the Couva Field Hospital, seven at the Tacarigua Facility, and 13 in Tobago.
There are 34 people in state quarantine facilities, and 14,338 people in home self-isolation. There are 445 recovered community cases and 83 people have been discharged from public health facilities.
The ministry said that 88.1 per cent or 7,540 of 8,555 patients in the parallel healthcare system were unvaccinated, based on data from July 22 to December 1.
The update said the total number of people vaccinated with their first dose of a two-dose regime was 657,300, compared to 656,276 – a palt
