More than 1,400 people have now died of COVID-19 in T&T

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T&T has crossed another grim milestone.

Now over 1,400 people have succumbed to COVID-19 since March 2020. Since the start of 2021, the country has lost 1,278 people to the disease, almost five times higher than this year’s murder toll.

COVID-19 continues to leave no household or family untouched. Nearly one in every 30 people in the country has been confirmed to have the deadly virus. One in every 34 COVID-19 cases has lost their battle, and one in 1,000 people across T&T have lost their lives to the disease.

In T&T, infections have occurred in infants that are just months old to near-centenarians. Since the start of the pandemic, doctors and health officials have warned the elderly (those above age 60) and people with hypertension, diabetes, and kidney disease are at high risk.

As of September 17, two-thirds of T&T’s COVID-19 deaths were among those above age 60, with 57.5 per cent of those males while 42.5 per cent were females.

Technical Director of the Ministry of Health’s Epidemiology Division, Dr Avery Hinds, reiterated, “many of those individuals would have had comorbid conditions and those conditions contribute to a high risk of death.”

The seven-day rolling average for COVID-19 related deaths continues to fluctuate between six and eight, with no days reporting over ten deaths this month.

Month-to-date, September has recorded 114 total deaths, with 100 having at least one comorbidity and 14 having no significant underlying health conditions.

The country has seen a reduction in fatalities over the last three months, with a slow decline from June, the record deadliest month with 352 deaths, to August with 214 deaths.

From May 1 to September 17, T&T has recorded 1,064 COVID-related deaths with at least one comorbidity, 169 COVID-19 related deaths without any significant underlying health conditions, and three without any additional details, resulting in 1,236 deaths.

Notably, 818 of these deaths were considered elderly, 385 were middle-aged, 29 were deemed to be young adults, and one was a teenager.

Through mid-August, active COVID-19 cases in Trinidad and Tobago fluctuated and even increased to a high of nearly 6,200 with a consistent decline into September. T&T is still reporting a high daily case count, with the latest seven-day rolling average at 201. Week-to-week case totals show the country has reported between 1,200 and 1,600 weekly cases since late June.

At present, T&T’s active case count stands at 3,986, with 218 cases reported in the last 24 hours. September-to-date has recorded 3,296 cases. Comparing this pace to the previous months, in the first 1 days of August, 3,422 cases were reported, while in July, 3,121 cases were detected in the same period.

Though the vaccine pace has slowed, T&T has now administered over 1,000,000 doses of a World Health Organization-approved COVID-19 vaccine.

Based on the latest Ministry of Health update, 1,014,945 doses have been administered, with 555,534 people receiving one dose of a two-dose regime, 447,553 receiving both doses of a two-dose regime, and 11,858 people receiving their sole dose of a one-dose vaccine.

Disaggregating the COVID-19 vaccine doses, 375,064 people have received at least one dose of Sinopharm, 119,987 people have received at least one dose of Oxford/AstraZeneca, 60,483 people have received at least one dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech, and 11,585 people have received the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.