Min­is­ter of Health Ter­rance Deyals­ingh has con­firmed the first case of coro­n­avirus COVID-19 in Trinidad and To­ba­go.

The an­nounce­ment was made at a news con­fer­ence at the Min­istry of Health that be­gan at 4.15 pm to­day.

"At 2.45 pm to­day we got con­fir­ma­tion of our first case of coro­n­avirus from CARPHA," Min­is­ter Deyals­ingh said.

He iden­ti­fied the per­son as a 52-year old male who flew in­to the coun­try from Switzer­land on Mon­day. He said the per­son has been in self-iso­la­tion.

The min­is­ter said the per­son con­tact­ed their health­care pro­fes­sion­al on Wednes­day and CARPHA to­day con­tact­ed him and said, "we have our first case of COVID-19."

The min­is­ter said the fam­i­ly is in iso­la­tion and that con­tact trac­ing be­gan on Wednes­day.

"It is a mild case," he said.

The an­nounce­ment came one day af­ter a 52-year-old woman died in Guyana from the virus. St Vin­cent and the Grenadines al­so an­nounced it's first case yes­ter­day and Ja­maica al­so an­nounced its sec­ond case.

As of this morn­ing just over 50 peo­ple were test­ed for coro­n­avirus in T&T.

Ear­li­er to­day, Caribbean Air­lines ad­vised that a pas­sen­ger who trav­eled on March 07, 2020 on BW 521 from John F. Kennedy, In­ter­na­tion­al Air­port, New York to Pi­ar­co In­ter­na­tion­al Air­port, Trinidad in tran­sit (on the same day) to BW 526 from Pi­ar­co In­ter­na­tion­al to Ched­di Ja­gan In­ter­na­tion­al Air­port, Guyana sub­se­quent­ly test­ed pos­i­tive for COVID19 at a pub­lic health fa­cil­i­ty in Guyana.

"Caribbean Air­lines as­sures all stake­hold­ers that the safe­ty, se­cu­ri­ty and good health of its cus­tomers and em­ploy­ees is its high­est pri­or­i­ty and when the in­for­ma­tion on the pas­sen­ger was re­ceived, im­me­di­ate ac­tion was tak­en," the state­ment said.

It added: "In ac­cor­dance with es­tab­lished pro­to­cols the Pub­lic Health Au­thor­i­ties have ad­vised that as a pre­cau­tion, the thir­teen (13) crew mem­bers as­so­ci­at­ed with the flights be placed on self-quar­an­tine for a pe­ri­od of four­teen (14) days. This was done, and the em­ploy­ees will be as­sessed and mon­i­tored by the Pub­lic Health Au­thor­i­ties in keep­ing with the di­rec­tives from the Min­istry of Health."

The air­line said that Pub­lic Health Au­thor­i­ties are al­so con­tact­ing all per­sons who may pos­si­bly have been af­fect­ed.

It said the com­pa­ny’s air­craft are cleaned dai­ly at all ports in keep­ing with in­dus­try stan­dards.

CAL said that fur­ther, in this in­stance ad­di­tion­al san­i­ti­za­tion process­es were used as out­lined by the reg­u­la­to­ry au­thor­i­ties.

A laboratory technician prepares COVID-19 patient samples for semi-automatic testing at Northwell Health Labs, Wednesday, March 11, 2020, in Lake Success, N.Y. The US Food and Drug Administration has approved faster testing protocols as the viral outbreak continues to spread worldwide. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some it can cause more severe illness. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

John Minchillo

"The air­line re­mains in close con­tact with the Pub­lic Health Au­thor­i­ties and its op­er­a­tions team has ac­ti­vat­ed con­tin­gen­cies for any im­pact on its flights," CAL said, adding, "Caribbean Air­lines as­sures all stake­hold­ers that it con­tin­ues to ac­tive­ly mon­i­tor and re­spond to the evolv­ing COVID 19 is­sue to en­sure the safe­ty and good health of its cus­tomers and em­ploy­ees."

The glob­al death toll from COVID-19 ex­ceeds 4,600.