There are now 51 con­firmed cas­es of COVID-19 in Trinidad and To­ba­go.

The lat­est up­date from the Health Min­istry as of Mon­day, 23 March 10:53 am, says that case 51 was al­so on the cruise that re­cent­ly re­turned but that per­son came back to this coun­try sep­a­rate­ly, pri­or to the oth­er 68.

The Min­istry of Health says this means that 41 of the 51 pos­i­tive cas­es came from the cruise ship, the Cos­ta Favolosa.

The Min­istry al­so con­firms that all pos­i­tive COVID-19 cas­es thus far have been im­port­ed.

The Min­istry of Health says so far 311 sam­ples were sub­mit­ted to the Caribbean Pub­lic Health Agency (CARPHA) for test­ing with now 51 peo­ple test­ing pos­i­tive.

Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley will host a news con­fer­ence at 2 this af­ter­noon, where he is ex­pect­ed to say more about the coro­n­avirus and its im­pact on this coun­try and mea­sures to mit­i­gate the ef­fects.