As many as 80 infected with Chikungunya — TT health minister

Port of Spain, Trinidad (Trinidad Express) — There may be as many as 80 people in this country currently infected with the Chikungunya virus, Trinidad Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan said yesterday.

Khan made the statement during a post-Cabinet press briefing held at the Office of the Prime Minister in St Clair.

“The last time I checked, (Wednesday) we had approximately 22 confirmed cases and 60 something suspected cases,” Khan said yesterday.

Khan said the figure was expected based on the size of this country’s population.

“It is in keeping with what we expect based on the population size,” Khan said.

He however called on citizens to be responsible and help stop the spread of the virus.

“Once again I will reiterate that Chikungunya can only develop if the breeding grounds are not removed and I have asked the population to deal with the breeding grounds around their house and close by areas,” he said.

Last month the country recorded its first confirmed case of the mosquito-borne disease.

Outbreaks of the virus have been experienced for years in Africa and Asia but surfaced in the Caribbean last December.