Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has denied claims by Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar that he had Covid symptoms on the Friday or Saturday before he was diagnosed with COVID-19.
When the UNC staged a boycott of the parliament on Friday, Persad-Bissessar claimed it was due to their concern that Rowley had been in the Chamber within the 14 days that he was diagnosed with the coronavirus and the room had not been properly sanitised.
However, Rowley has refuted this.
According to information from the Office of the Prime Minister, on Easter Monday, April 5, Rowley began displaying flu-like symptoms and was tested the next day. He was diagnosed with COVID-19 that day and immediately went into isolation.
“It falls to me to confirm that I had no symptoms on Friday 26th and Saturday 27th March as untruthfully presented by the Opposition Leader in her quest to politicise my medical condition,” Dr Rowley said.
“My flu-like symptoms first appeared on the night of April 5th. I was tested and confirmed positive for COVID-19 on the morning of April 6th.”
The Prime Minister said according to the standard protocol once symptoms are observed the medical team “will check contacts two to three days prior”.
He said “This means that the contacts in Parliament on 26th March and at a press conference on the 27th March do not qualify under the protocols for tracing.”
“That is why she had to lie to make the case that there was a breach of the protocols and breaking of laws by the Government officials. What the Opposition Leader has disgracefully done is play politics with lies and my medical record which I have voluntarily made public in my continuing openness with the population of Trinidad and Tobago,” he said.
Dr Rowley added, that contrary to the UNC’s “misinformation” there was no need for extra sanitizing of Parliament to allow them to return since what they claim never occurred.
“This being so, it is now clear that it is when she returns to the Parliament, that hopefully it will be sanitized so that decency and the truth may find a seat amongst them. The country will certainly be better off for it,” he said.
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