Trinidad and Tobago health authorities Wednesday confirmed that the country had recorded its youngest death from the coronavirus (COVID-19) after an 18-year-old woman with prevailing medical conditions passed away.
“Our last death which was reported between the last media conference and this morning, occurred in a person under the 25-year age group. While this was an exceptional circumstance and the person had a pre-existing medical condition, this is a warning sign to our population that COVID-19 strikes all persons,” Dr Maryam Richards, Principal Medical Officer – Institution, told the Ministry of Health virtual media conference.
Media reports said that the woman was a diabetic and died within the past 48 hours.
Dr. Richards did not disclose further details about the person in keeping with the practice adopted by health officials here in maintaining patient confidentiality.
“I will start by saying that we have to consider patient confidentiality practices. This has been the youngest death from COVID-19, while I am unable to give you the accurate age of the person due to patient confidentiality, I would like to remind the public that no one is immune from the morbidity or illness, death or mortality from COVID-19.
“It is key to note that although the patient did have pre-existing conditions, this person was a very young patient in terms of their age group, as we said under 25 years of age, This person would have passed away between our two media conferences this week In closing we would like to express sincere condolences to the patient’s family,” she told reporters.
The Ministry of Health said that 5,568 persons have tested positive for the virus with 1, 276 being active. It said there were 33 additional positive cases and that the number of deaths stands at 106,
The number of people in state quarantine is 113, while 1,182 are in home isolation.
CMC
