RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

Se­nior Mul­ti­me­dia Re­porter

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

Health Min­is­ter Dr Lack­ram Bo­doe has con­firmed that re­cent sub­vari­ants of COVID-19, in­clud­ing those cir­cu­lat­ing glob­al­ly, have not been de­tect­ed in Trinidad and To­ba­go.

Re­spond­ing to ques­tions from Guardian Me­dia, Dr Bo­doe said as part of the Min­istry of Health’s rou­tine sur­veil­lance, there is con­stant mon­i­tor­ing for emerg­ing COVID-19 vari­ants.

“As of this week, re­cent sub­vari­ants, in­clud­ing those cir­cu­lat­ing glob­al­ly, have not been de­tect­ed in Trinidad and To­ba­go,” he said.

He added, “While most of the vari­ants cir­cu­lat­ing are not as­so­ci­at­ed with in­creased sever­i­ty, the min­istry re­mains vig­i­lant, es­pe­cial­ly with vari­ants that show in­creased trans­mis­si­bil­i­ty or po­ten­tial to evade im­mu­ni­ty.”

Asked what in­di­vid­u­als should do in re­sponse, Dr Bo­doe said the min­istry’s guid­ance re­mains the same for all vi­ral in­fec­tions.

“In­di­vid­u­als, es­pe­cial­ly those who are el­der­ly, im­muno­com­pro­mised, or have un­der­ly­ing health con­di­tions, should take ex­tra pre­cau­tions,” he said.

This in­cludes prac­tis­ing good hand hy­giene, wear­ing masks in crowd­ed or en­closed spaces, and stay­ing home when un­well.

“The Min­istry of Health strong­ly rec­om­mends these pro­tec­tive mea­sures be con­sid­ered based on in­di­vid­ual risk, par­tic­u­lar­ly dur­ing pe­ri­ods of in­creased res­pi­ra­to­ry ill­ness or if ad­vised by health au­thor­i­ties,” he ex­plained.

Over the past few weeks, re­ports of new vari­ants have been emerg­ing, dri­ving an in­crease in case num­bers in parts of North Amer­i­ca, Asia, and Eu­rope. Some of these vari­ants have shown signs of in­creased trans­mis­si­bil­i­ty and par­tial im­mune es­cape.

Mean­while, spe­cial­ist med­ical of­fi­cer and CNC3’s Ask The Doc­tor an­chor Dr Joel Teelucks­ingh said the na­ture of the vari­ants is now be­ing tracked in oth­er re­gions: “These new vari­ants are part of the ever-evolv­ing Omi­cron fam­i­ly. What sets them apart is a set of mu­ta­tions in the spike pro­tein that may al­low them to evade im­mu­ni­ty more ef­fi­cient­ly, whether from past in­fec­tion or vac­ci­na­tion. They al­so ap­pear to be more trans­mis­si­ble, which means they spread faster through the pop­u­la­tion. How­ev­er, cur­rent ev­i­dence sug­gests they are not more se­vere than pre­vi­ous strains,” he said.

Dr Teelucks­ingh al­so not­ed a shift in symp­toms.

“While clas­sic symp­toms like cough, fever, and loss of smell are still re­port­ed, many peo­ple now de­scribe sore throats, nasal con­ges­tion, sneez­ing, fa­tigue, and gas­troin­testi­nal symp­toms.”

Dr Teelucks­ingh ad­vised cit­i­zens to take pre­cau­tions.

“Go back to ba­sics. Avoid the three Cs: Closed spaces, Crowd­ed places, and Close con­tact set­tings, es­pe­cial­ly if you or your loved ones are high-risk. Ven­ti­late in­door ar­eas, mask in high-risk set­tings, and stay home if you’re un­well. COVID-19 is air­borne — not spread by touch — so fresh air mat­ters.”

With up­dat­ed boost­er vac­cines not cur­rent­ly avail­able in Trinidad and To­ba­go, Dr Teelucks­ingh high­light­ed the risks to those most vul­ner­a­ble.

“The most vul­ner­a­ble re­main the el­der­ly, peo­ple with di­a­betes, heart dis­ease, can­cer, and kid­ney fail­ure, as well as preg­nant women and un­vac­ci­nat­ed in­di­vid­u­als. In a coun­try like Trinidad and To­ba­go, where chron­ic dis­eases are com­mon, this risk is re­al.”

He added, “Let us not wait for packed wards, gasp­ing pa­tients, and fu­ner­als to re­mind us of lessons we should have al­ready learned. We have the tools. We have the knowl­edge. What we need now is the will — the will to act wise­ly, to pro­tect each oth­er, and to rise above mis­in­for­ma­tion and com­pla­cen­cy. COVID-19 did not dis­ap­pear; it mere­ly changed form. And so must we — from pas­sive ob­servers to ac­tive pro­tec­tors of our own health and that of our com­mu­ni­ty.”