The Ministry of Health has confirmed 10 additional COVID-19 cases, one of which is in Tobago, from samples collected between January 3 and 5. This brought the total number of infections to be recorded in the country since March 12, 2020, to 7,196.The number of people to recover from the virus also rose to 6,744 after the ministry released nine people from under its care; two people were discharged from public health facilities while seven were released from home self-isolation as recovered community cases. There were 327 cases which remained active. Of these, 23 were in hospitals, 63 were in step-down/transitional facilities and 229 were in home self-isolation (17 of which were in the care of the prison system). Deaths remained at 127. There were 232 people in state quarantine facilities, however, this figure is anticipated to grow in the coming days as repatriation flights continue. “Last night (Tuesday night) we had a very successful repatriation exercise where 126 persons returned from New York City to Trinidad and Tobago. This evening we have another repatriation exercise in which 135 persons have been granted exemptions to enter Trinidad and Tobago from Barbados and a similar exercise on the ninth of January for returning nationals from Miami,” principal medical officer, institutions Dr Maryam Abdool-Richards said during the Ministry of Health’s virtual press conference yesterday.
