St. George’s: July 17, 2020: The Ministry of Health confirms three (3) new COVID-19 cases arriving in Trinidad and Tobago from Grenada.

The three individuals were tested and found to be positive at the port of entry in Trinidad and Tobago, after leaving Grenada on the return leg of a Caribbean Airlines repatriation flight yesterday, Thursday, July 16th.

All three individuals are nationals of Trinidad and Tobago, who were residing in Grenada during the last four months of the COVID-19 pandemic. This means that they contracted the virus in Grenada, from a currently unknown point of contact. One individual resided in the north of the island; another in the south, and one in southeast. 

It is important to note that people can test positive long after they are no longer contagious, therefore, these individuals might have been infected some time ago, and are no longer contagious, but both the Ministry of Health in Grenada and the Ministry of Health in Trinidad and Tobago are treating these cases as active, until further testing.

We expect a further update on Monday when these individuals are scheduled to be retested in Trinidad.

The implications of this new development is clearly disturbing. While there has been no known cases of the virus in at least 4 weeks in the State of Grenada, and all contact tracing was conducted on previously tested positive cases, it is now apparent that the virus has been in circulation, without detection. 

Without too much conjecture, as it is still early in the investigation, it is likely that individuals in communities might have been asymptomatic and, therefore, did not get tested, or individuals exhibited symptoms but, for one reason or another, did not respond to the Ministry’s repeated calls for testing. The Ministry cautions that there is a high and immediate probability of an active spread of COVID-19 in Grenada, and we must, once again, heighten our vigilance. Citizens are