In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and with the prevalence of viruses moving between species and from animals to humans, Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh says the country must be prepared for the next pandemic.
“We applied to the World Bank, having learned all these lessons, and the World Bank has given us, via PAHO, a $10 million Grant to do what is called One Lab TT. What does that mean? Many of these viruses, many of these new diseases, are what we call zoonotic.”
The Health Minister said bird flu has already been detected in cows, adding that there have also been two deaths already from that particular strain of avian flu.
“One Lab TT is to bring together the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the University of the West Indies to do genomic sequencing, treatment, and to identify the source of this new pandemic that we are going to get.”
The Health Minister was a guest on Talk City 91.1FM’s ‘Titans of Democracy’ programme on Monday.