PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley Friday said he had gone into voluntary quarantine after he had been exposed to a person suffering from the coronavirus (COVID-19) on August 10, election day here.
In a message posted on his Facebook page, Rowley, 71, said that it had come to his attention on Thursday night that on the night of the election “I was exposed to someone who later tested positive for COVID-19.
“I have been tested and the results are negative. Out of an abundance of caution I have been advised to remain in quarantine at home until next Monday when the full fourteen day period would have expired,” Rowley wrote.
Rowley, who was sworn into office on Wednesday as the head of a new 22-member Cabinet, said that given the circumstances under which “we all now live, I once again take this opportunity to appeal to all citizens to each do your part to help fight this virus by strictly following the health instructions of regular attentive hand washing and sanitizing, physical distancing and no congregation in groups above five persons”.
He said most importantly, persons must wear a mask once outside the home or in an enclosed space which is being shared at close quarters.
“With the discipline that is expected of us together we can fight and beat the uncontrolled expansion of this virus,” he wrote.
The announcement by Rowley that he had gone into quarantine, followed the latest statement by the Ministry of Health that there had been 39 additional positive cases pushing the total to 806.
It said that the number of active cases is 632 with 12 deaths.