At a Press Conference on 5th December 2020, Prime Minister Keith Rowley announced a target date of 8th February 2021 was set for standard 5 primary school pupils to physically return to school. This target date also applied to secondary school students in forms 4 - 6.

The Prime Minister did warn the public at that time, however, saying that if they did not behave accordingly during the Christmas and New Year celebrations, this target date would not become a reality. Chief Med­ical Of­fi­cer, Dr. Roshan Parasram, previously said that the full im­pact of these cel­e­bra­tions may not be seen until the end of Jan­u­ary 2021.

As we are now approaching the target date set by the Prime Minister, it remains unclear whether these plans will proceed as the Ministry of Health is concerned about the rising COVID-19 cases in Trinidad and Tobago.

At the Ministry’s virtual Press Conference this morning (Wednesday 20th January 2021), Technical Di­rec­tor of the Min­istry’s Epi­demi­ol­o­gy Division, Dr. Av­ery Hinds, indicated that COVID-19 cas­es for 2021 are on an up­ward tra­jec­to­ry. ”The new cas­es per day are inch­ing up­wards. If you look at the num­ber of new cas­es per week, you’d see that in the last three com­plet­ed cal­en­dar or epi­demi­o­log­ic weeks. we’d have had a steady in­crease from 58 cas­es in the last week of 2020 to 82 cas­es in the first week of 2021 and 126 in this last com­plet­ed week.” Dr. Hinds noted that this is a con­cern­ing de­vel­op­ment and urged the pub­lic to avoid any gath­er­ings or con­gre­ga­tions.

At the same Press Conference this morning, CMO Dr. Parasram said Officials from both the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education will meet on Thursday morning (21st January 2021) to dis­cuss the re-open­ing of schools. “We’re hav­ing a dis­cus­sion with the Min­istry - that’s the Min­istry of Health and Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion - called by the Ho­n­ourable Min­is­ter, on Thurs­day morn­ing to dis­cuss what is go­ing to hap­pen with the school situation.” The CMO did not give any fur­ther de­tails on this topic.

The cur­rent form of the Pub­lic Health Reg­u­la­tions was ex­tend­ed for a sec­ond time ear­li­er this week.

According to the CMO:

If a decision is made on Thursday as to whether schools will re-open on 8th February 2021, the Prime Minister may make the announcement this Saturday (23rd January 2021) at a Press Conference.

Schools have been closed since 14th March 2020, the day after the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in T&T.

[Source: T&T Guardian]

The Ministry of Health revealed in its daily 4pm update this afternoon (Wednesday 20th January 2021) that there is another unfortunate COVID-19 related death in Trinidad and Tobago, plus fifteen (15) additional cases. This represents a small 6.25% decrease in reported cases from yesterday. The latest death is an elderly female with co-morbidities.

The Ministry reported sixteen (16) cases yesterday. The country’s death toll now stands at 133. T&T’s confirmed cases now rises to 7,430, with 332 being active cases. A total of 6,965 patients have recovered from the virus to date.

The Ministry states that of the fifteen (15) new positive cases, one (1) is a recently repatriated persons. Further, the number of positive cases reported reflects the samples taken during the period 17th - 19th January 2021 and not the last 24 hours.

​In its latest update, the Ministry notes that four (4) persons have been discharged from public health facilities and there have been sixteen (16) recovered community cases. Recovered community cases refer to persons who were previously COVID-19 positive and in self-isolation at home, and subsequently met the discharge criteria and were released from self-isolation. ​

The Ministry also notes that there are currently forty (40) COVID-19 positive patients being treated at Hospitals:

• 25 at Couva.
• 9 at Caura.
• 1 at St. Ann’s.
• 5 at Scarborough Regional.

Among the patients at Couva, one (1) is in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). There are also currently five (5) COVID-19 positive patients in step-down/transition facilities.

This is a developing story - refresh this page for updates.

The Ministry of Health held a virtual Press Conference at 11am this morning (Wednesday 20th January 2021) to update the public on the latest developments with COVID-19 in Trinidad and Tobago.

​Below are the key points discussed today, courtesy of TTT Live Online:

- Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Roshan Parasram, addressed ways in which the public can avoid COVID-19 misinformation, which include:

• Looking beyond the headlines and reading the full story.
• Double-checking the dates on articles to ensure that the information is current.
• Examining the evidence by verifying the information with other sources.
• Checking your biases.

- PAHO/WHO Representative to T&T, Dr. Erica Wheeler, gave an update on the COVAX facility and indicated that Government is proceeding with their plans and steps are being put into place to procure and prepare all materials and storage facilities in anticipation for the Pfizer vaccine.

- Dr. Wheeler also stated that Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine should be available to the Caribbean by March 2021 at the latest.

- The Chief Medical Officer, when answering a question, indicated that symptoms of the vaccine may include soreness at the injection site and lethargy for a day but also advised that people with severe allergies should NOT take the Pfizer vaccine because of the possibility of adverse reactions.

- Technical Director of the Epidemiology Division, Dr. Avery Hinds, expressed concern that the number of daily cases has been steadily increasing and the data was showing an upward trend. Doctor Hinds appealed to the public to avoid gatherings during this Carnival season and adhere to COVID-19 Regulations.

Watch the Press Conference below in its entirety.

[Source: TTT Live Online]

According to reports, Gaytrie Chanderpaul of Andrew Lane, D’Abadie, was giving her pet Rottweiler a treat around 6:45pm on Tuesday (19th January 2021) when the animal suddenly became aggressive and attacked her.

The 56-year-old woman was bitten in several areas about her body. Her 32-year-old daughter, Mandy, rushed to intervene to try and save her mother from the attack after hearing the commotion.

The injured woman was taken to the Arima Hospital to be treated for her wounds, but she unfortunately died about an hour later.

The scene was visited by C.S.I WPC Edghill, PC Sookhan and WPC Pablo Singh. Cpl Metivier is continuing enquires.

[Source: Trinidad Express]

The Ministry of Health will be hosting a virtual Press Conference at 11am this morning (Wednesday 20th January 2021) to update the public about the latest developments with COVID-19 in Trinidad and Tobago.

The Ministry reported sixteen (16) cases yesterday. The country’s death toll currently stands at 132.

​Watch the live stream of the Press Conference below when it begins at 11am, courtesy of CCN TV6.

This is a developing story - refresh this page for updates.

UPDATE: It’s official - Lil Wayne has been pardoned by Donald Trump. The rapper was among the seventy-three (73) recipients of Trump’s last-day pardons.

President Donald Trump is reportedly expected to pardon rapper Lil Wayne for his federal gun charge before his term ends. Trump is believed to have a pretty lengthy list of names for his final round of commutations and pardons - an estimated 50 to 100 people.

Reports state that the President will reveal his final list of pardons by Wednesday morning (20th January 2021) - just before Joe Biden's inauguration. Lil Wayne endured a lot of heat by endorsing Trump in the days leading up to the 2020 Election and this may be Trump’s “thank you” note to ‘Weezy.’

Lil Wayne even posed for a photo with Trump and touted his track record with criminal justice reform, along with the Trump administration's proposed "platinum plan" for helping the Black community. Trump also praised Lil Wayne as an activist and a "really nice guy."

Lil Wayne pled guilty in federal court last month for illegally possessing a loaded weapon while traveling to Miami on a private jet in 2019. Since the rapper is a convicted felon, he's facing the possibility of up to ten (10) years in prison. However, he's likely to get far less than that for agreeing to the guilty plea.

A Presidential pardon from Trump will of course mean all this stress goes away for the rapper.

This is a developing story - refresh this page for updates.

[Source: TMZ]