CMO: Reopening earlier if TT does well

Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram said he will consider the fact that TT has gone over a month without a case of covid19 in his next meeting with the Prime Minister.

This will be to to give recommendations on government’s next move in the reopening the country.

He was speaking at a virtual media conference on Wednesday morning.

The government implemented phase one of six on May 10 and recently brought forward phase two, four days early, on May 21.

In these two phases some restrictions on food establishments and vending were lifted. Also, the manufacturing and construction sector was given the go-ahead to restart operations.

Dr Rowley, at a press conference to announce the government’s reopening strategy, said these phases are based on the results and success of the country in containing the spread of covid19. He said the phases would be implemented earlier if the numbers remain low.

Parasram said he met with his team on Tuesday to discuss the next phases.

“We have a time for everything to occur. We have to bear in mind, so far case 115 was on April 20, which gives us almost 37 days without an active case. Case 116 – which seemed to be a linked case – is giving us just over 30 days without a case.”

He said TT is into two and a half incubation cycles without a case of the virus.

“So we are looking at...bringing the phrases forward based on that. So the initial 14 days was to give us 14 days' space, in terms of the incubation period of the virus, between one phase and the next, given that there would have been cases in each phase."

He said now that there are no cases, the next recommendations would include adjustments to the timelines to implement the next phases.

He said the discussion to merge phrase four into phase three hasn’t been discussed as yet. When it is discussed, he said, recommendations will be made, and he and the PM will make the final decision.