Trinidad and Tobago in 'Outbreak Situation' as Dengue claims 8 lives

Trinidad and Tobago: As the number of dengue cases continues to rise, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh is warning that the country is in an “outbreak situation”.

Minister Deyalsingh confirmed that the number of confirmed dengue cases—which, at present, are at 825 infected and 8 deaths—is higher than previous years.

The recent victim of this disease is an eight year old girl named Nelisha Sophia Narine who was laid to rest after a funeral service at her family's New Grant Princes Town home on Sunday, 18th August 2024.

She was taken to the Indian Walk Health Center on Friday where she was sent home with a high fever and no medications while her parents were told they need to wait for five days for a dengue test. 

Her parents tried to manage her symptoms from there but on Sunday, she was taken to PTDHF, upon arrival, doctors told them to go straight to San Fernando. The young girl could not make it despite giving treatment and passed away Wednesday morning at SFGH from Dengue.

He said that already it can be classified as a dengue outbreak because the ministry have had more cases this year than the previous year, since 2017 to now. 

“The last time we had these type of numbers would have been 2014, 2017.So we are in an outbreak situation, but it's difficult to project and predict where it is going to go,” outlined the Minister. 

He further remarked that his team is doing a lot at the government level and they are also encouraging people to do their part in saving the citizens especially children from this outbreak. 

While an official statement saying there is in fact an outbreak has not been made, the minister is urging the public to come as early as possible to get tested at the Couva Hospital.

He emphasised, “The setup that we have at Couva for this week already 176 people have come in between Monday and Friday, which is good. And out of that, 16 were awarded. So make use of that facility. We have a similar facility at Sangre Grande and a similar facility will be launched at Saint James.”

Minister Deyal Singh is also reminding the public to do as much as possible to reduce the spread of dengue by making it difficult for the Aedes aegypti mosquito to find breeding grounds.

The constant climbing of cases related to dengue fever in Trinidad and Tobago is concerning the officials, with the health ministry and the government taking all steps to curb the disease.