TRINIDAD and Tobago yesterday broke its own dreadful record for Covid-19-related deaths, with the Ministry of Health reporting an additional 21 fatalities over 24 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The death toll placed T&T in the unenviable position of leading the Caribbean for the most fatalities in a day, ahead of Cuba with 18 deaths in one day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, Cuba\u2019s population is more than 11 million people compared to this country\u2019s 1.4 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even as the country and the Muslim community celebrated Eid-ul-Fitr quietly because of Covid-19, yesterday was also a day of sorrow for many because of the virus. Covid-19 is now also claiming younger people and continues to show no respect for age, race or \u00adprofession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
April 26 was the last day the country recorded no Covid-19 fatalities, and 87 people have been lost to the virus in the past 13 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Ministry of Health\u2019s clinical update yesterday afternoon indicated that latest deaths were five elderly women with co-morbidities, one elderly woman without co-morbidities, three middle-aged women with co-morbidities and three middle-\u00adaged women without co-morbidities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Covid also claimed the lives of four elderly men with co-morbidities, one elderly man without co-morbidities, two middle-aged men without co-morbidities, one middle-aged man with co-morbidities and one young adult man without co-morbidities. \u201cThis brings the total number of Covid-19-related deaths to 256,\u201d the ministry noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
T&T recorded its first case of the virus on March 12, 2020, and the first death on March 25, 2020\u2014a 70-year-old man with pre-existing health conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As news of the new record of deaths gripped the country, people took to social media to express \u00adcondolences to affected families, and to express horror at the loss of life on a now-daily basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many said they did not believe the death toll could have worsened, following news on Tuesday of nine Covid-19-related deaths and another 11 deaths on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Daily new infections have also continued to evolve \u00adrapidly upwards, with the ministry reporting, for the last 24 hours, 397 new cases from samples taken between May 9 and 12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has brought the total number of active cases in the country to 4,814 people, and the total since the virus was first \u00adconfirmed to 14,814.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ministry on Wednesday advised of a record 615 cases reported, but noted the figure represented a five-day sample period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Changing face of death<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Covid-19\u2019s deadly rampage has evolved since it first attacked the country, going from affecting \u00adolder people with non-communicable diseases to now claiming those in their 20s, 30s and 40s\u2014and not all of whom had pre-existing health conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yesterday\u2019s bad news caused many on social media to pray for the country and those suffering loss, while others posted that their friends, colleagues, neighbours and relatives were among the dead this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One person posted that a lost loved one was only 28 years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several others said deceased people they knew were \u201chealthy\u201d and \u201chealth conscious\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Others called on the Government and medical authorities to disclose more to the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hospital figures high<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hospital occupancy in the parallel system remained high, with 342 patients receiving hospital treatment as at 4 p.m. yesterday, the ministry said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One hundred and thirty-seven people are at the Couva Hospital and Multi-Training Facility, nine of whom are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and 58 in the High Dependency Unit (HDU).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are 103 people in step-down facilities, 392 in State quaran\u00adtine facilities and 3,972 in home self-isolation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Caura Hospital is treating 75 \u00adpeople, and 46 people are at the Augustus Long Hospital in Pointe-a-Pierre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ministry said 60,645 people had been vaccinated and 1,179 people have received their second dose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thirty-seven people have been discharged from public health facilities and a total of 9,744 patients have recovered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To date, a total of 149,880 people have been tested at the Caribbean Public Health Agency (Carpha), The University of the West Indies\u2019 sites, and at private facilities, the latter of which accounts for 69,456 of total tests conducted so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are 56 people at the Arima General Hospital, 27 at the Scarborough Regional Hospital at Fort King George, and one person at the Scarborough General Hospital in Signal Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Claxton Bay Correctional Facility is housing seven people, 34 people are at The UWI in Debe, 22 at the Tobago facility, and 40 people are at UTT in Valsayn, the ministry added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Source :Trinidad Express <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TRINIDAD and Tobago yesterday broke its own dreadful record for Covid-19-related deaths, with the Ministry of Health reporting an additional 21 fatalities over 24 hours. The death toll placed T&T in the unenviable position of leading the Caribbean for the most fatalities in a day, ahead of Cuba with 18 deaths in one day. However,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":22450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-regional-and-international-news"],"yoast_head":"\n