WHEN DID DELTA VARIANT REALLY GET TO T&T?

WITH the highly contagious Delta variant of the Covid-19 virus confirmed in 132 countries, the Trinidad and Tobago medical community is split on when it arrived in the country. 

The Ministry of Health stated that the first two cases were identified on Wednesday August 11, 2021, but senior medical professionals are suggesting that the variant may have been in T&T at least two weeks earlier. 

The experts are pointing to several factors, including reports of some hospitalised Covid-19 patients not responding effectively to treatment. 

The Delta variant is at least 60 per cent more transmissible than the original Alpha model and has more aggressive behaviourial characteristics. 

Medics have reportedly encountered such cases in recent weeks. 

“I am convinced that there were cases in the country sometime before the Ministry made the announcement,” said a top medical professional. 

Opposition Senator Jayanti Lutchmedial has called on Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh to state how many positive samples have been tested for the Delta variant. 

The legislator also queried the criteria for selecting samples for genetic sequencing. 

Further, Lutchmedial asked what steps have been taken by the government to increase capacity to test for the variant.  

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says in recent days there has been a 30 per cent uptick in Delta infections in the Americas, including around 500,000 new cases in the United States. 

Most Caricom countries, including nearby Barbados, have introduced more rigorous travel restrictions and medical testing because of concerns for the spread of the Delta variant. 

Cruise ships were told not to enter regional countries until meticulous testing programmes were introduced. 

The WHO said the Delta variant was travelling around the world at a “scorching pace” and had exposed a “hugely uneven and inequitable global gap in vaccine supply.” 

There are “catastrophic waves of cases,” WHO stated, and even countries that had managed the early waves of the virus “are now in the midst of devastating outbreaks.” 

In T&T, just under 250,000 people – around 16 per cent of the population – are fully vaccinated. 

Two weeks ago WHO called for a moratorium on booster shots until “at least the end of September”. 

This is meant to facilitate vulnerable people getting the first jab. 

T&T recently confirmed its first Gamma variant, which was originally identified in Brazil and is said to be “more contagious than previous strains.” 

As for the Delta variant, the Ministry of Health said the cases were detected in two residents who recently travelled from Guyana and the United States.