Almost 300 out of quarantine in next few days

Close to 300 people who have returned to TT are near the end of their 14-day state quarantine period and are expected to go home between Thursday and Sunday.

One person from the UWI St Augustine campus was transferred to Caura Hospital for non-covid19-related medical issues. At a covid19 briefing on Wednesday, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said this person has been isolated from the six recent positive cases.

At the National Academy for the Performing Arts, in Port of Spain – reserved for health care workers – 18 people are still in quarantine.

There are no patients at the Couva Hospital, and no one in quarantine at the National Racquet Centre in Tacarigua. The last group of 29 was discharged on June 18.

At the UWI Penal/Debe campus there are 50 people, and Deyalsingh said once all goes well they may be released between June 29 and early July.

Also expected to leave state quarantine soon are students who returned from Mona, Jamaica, who are staying at UWI's Canada Hall. The group of 99 is expected to finish quarantine between June 26 and 28.

“The same goes for those at UWI Freedom Hall, where we have 46 students from Barbados. They may be able to leave around June 29 or June 30, once their tests come back negative.”

Twenty-two people in state-supervised quarantine at the Chancellor Hotel should be discharged on either Thursday or Friday.

There are eight people at the Home of Football in Couva who are awaiting their second negative test before being released before the end of the week.

Deyalsingh said there are 24 returnees from Venezuela who may be discharged from the Sangre Grande Brooklyn facility this weekend.

Another group of 48 in the Kapok Hotel in St Clair may be able to leave around July 2.

“It’s a massive undertaking and I want to continue to thank everyone who has been accommodating our returning nationals in the parallel health care system,” Deyalsingh said.

Aboard the Enchantment of the Seas vessel there are 295 cruise ship workers. He said they are expected to be released on Saturday once they all test negative.

The workers may receive their final result by the end of this week and finally see their relatives after being stranded at sea for months. But a protest by port workers prevented medical officials from swabbing those onboard.

“We were unable to board the ship on Tuesday or bring people out to be tested because it was supposed to be a swabbing day. Now the chief medical officer and doctor Maryam Richards, who is in charge of logistics of that operation, are having a discussion with port officials.”

Deyalsingh is hopeful that contingency plans are agreed on to have the testing done.

“If all goes well, we will swab the 295 nationals tomorrow.”

One man quarantined on the vessel told Newsday those on board were not troubled by the protest which delayed their final test.

“We just cool here. Nobody don’t seem bothered, because we know something would have happened to jumbie the process. We didn’t know what it was, but we know something would have happened.

"Plus, as much as we would like to leave and go home, nobody isn’t really excited too much to get swabbed. People said it was painful.”