Pres­i­dent Paula-Mae Weekes fell ill ear­li­er this evening while at­tend­ing the launch of Car­ifes­ta XIV at the Hilton Trinidad, Port-of-Spain.

Ac­cord­ing to a re­lease from the Of­fice of the Pres­i­dent, Weekes was still able to com­plete her sched­uled speech at the event af­ter falling ill ear­ly on in the pro­ceed­ings.

It said Weekes had to be at­tend­ed to by Dr Mon­i­ca Davis, the Dean of the Con­sular Corps, af­ter she had a bout of “cold sweat­ing” and a “bad feel­ing.” She was es­cort­ed from the ball­room for treat­ment and it was lat­er dis­cov­ered her symp­toms were due to low blood sug­ar.

The re­lease said Weekes was thank­ful to Davis for com­ing to her as­sis­tance and al­so to Cul­ture Min­is­ter Nyan Gads­by-Dol­ly for her “car­ing and gra­cious­ness” and Labour Min­is­ter Jen­nifer Bap­tiste-Primus, who fanned her “with the speed and ded­i­ca­tion of a whirling dervish.”

“I am well,” Weekes said in the state­ment.

The re­lease said Weekes was able to go straight home for a good night’s rest af­ter the event.