Trinidad Express- Trinidad and Tobago is reporting its first confirmed imported case of novel coronavirus COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh this afternoon disclosed that a patient had tested positive for the virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The patient is a 52-year-old man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He flew into the country from Switzerland on Monday and self isolated even before he began experiencing symptoms, said National Security Minister Stuart Young.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By Wednesday, the man began experiencing symptoms and his family contacted health authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A test was done and at 2.45pm and it was confirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Contact tracing, which involves locating all the people the patient was in contact with, is underway, and national security is supporting the effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All the passengers on the patient\u2019s flight are being contacted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The man is being transferred to a facility in Caura.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His family members are also quarantined at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The patient\u2019s identity is being kept confidential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Switzerland has over 800 confirmed coronavirus cases and six deaths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The arrival of the virus had been anticipated for weeks, with the Health Ministry preparing a containment plan with the hope of delaying the spread, and preventing the upheaval that happened in others countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, Wednesday\u2019s declaration of the viral illness by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a pandemic set off a wave of fear across Trinidad and Tobago, with people panic buying supplies similar to the preparation for a coming hurricane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Up to up 1.30p.m, Deyalsingh was telling the Express that reported of a confirmed case was untrue and that people had to stop spreading fake news, which was spread fear faster than the virus itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This week, Jamaica, St Vincent and Guyana announced confirmed cases with the Guyana patient, a woman who travelled from the United States, dying at hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prior to the announcement today, Deyalsingh said Cabinet had taken the decision to ban all cruise ships from visiting Trinidad and Tobago for the rest of the cruise ship season, in an effort to protect T&T from imported cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Trinidad Express- Trinidad and Tobago is reporting its first confirmed imported case of novel coronavirus COVID-19. Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh this afternoon disclosed that a patient had tested positive for the virus. The patient is a 52-year-old man. He flew into the country from Switzerland on Monday and self isolated even before he began experiencing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":9107,"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":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-computers"],"yoast_head":"\n