A special sitting of the High Court was held in San Fernando yesterday. But it had nothing to do with crime or law.
In focus was the issue of the Influenza A/H1N1 pandemic or swine flu as it is commonly called.
The decision to have Ministry of Health epidemiologist in the National Surveillance Unit Dr Avery Hinds address members of staff was made following confirmation that a police constable attached to the Court and Process Unit was diagnosed with the flu.
The lecture took place in the First Criminal Court.
Operations at the court were suspended on Monday as news of the officer’s condition spread.
The 27-year-old officer of Penal remained in critical condition yesterday at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the San Fernando General Hospital.
At yesterday’s meeting, chaired by Acting Chief Justice Wendell Kangaloo, Hinds told the staff, which included police officers and judges Prakash Moosai and Geoffrey Henderson, most people who experience flu-like symptoms associated with swine flu would not require medical attention.
He said there have been 163 confirmed cases of swine flu diagnosed in Trinidad and Tobago so far, with four of those people dying at the San Fernando General Hospital.’This does not mean that the virus circulating in San Fernando is any different to what is circulating in the rest of Trinidad and Tobago or the rest of the world,’ Hinds said.
Hinds stressed on the importance of remaining at home if symptoms appear.
Addressing the reason that steps were not taken to sanitise the court since the officer’s last day of work on Friday, Hinds said it would have been unnecessary to do so, especially by Monday.
He said the virus does not remain in the air and travels through air-condition vents but rests on surfaces and does not survive beyond 24 hours.
Hinds advised, however, of the need to regularly clean work surfaces several times during the day and to develop a routine of sanitising hands, either through washing with soap and water or with a commercial sanitiser with a 99 per cent alcohol base.
