KINGSTOWN – Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves Wednesday confirmed that 29 nationals on board the cruise liner, Vision of the Seas, have tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) that has killed more than 351 000 and infected 5.6 million others worldwide.
Speaking on the state-owned NBC Radio confirmed media reports in Trinidad and Tobago that the nationals from St Vincent and the Grenadines, who are among 356 being repatriated, had tested positive for the virus after taking rapid tests.
Vision of the Seas has been docked here since Tuesday and could remain there until Thursday, as the government administer COVID-19 tests on the 356 Vincentians.
“A certain number were tested negative on the rapid test and those disembarked. I was advised by the Health Services Committee that they were put into quarantine. But everybody has been tested PCR and those tests would have been done yesterday [Tuesday] afternoon sometime before 4 o’clock to Trinidad,’ Gonsalves told radio listeners.
He said that his government is expecting the results of those tests by Thursday morning.
“They may even come back today, this evening, so you are not going to have any disembarking until probably tomorrow [Thursday] of the general body because that PCR test, which is the gold standard. They will tell us if anybody has to go into government appointed quarantine or into isolation or to go home to be quarantined for the 14 days,” Gonsalves said.
Gonsalves noted that the rapid test looks for the antibodies, which show that someone was at some point exposed to COVID-19 but is not, at the time of the test, able to transmit the viral illness. (CMC)
