Trinidad and Tobago ’s health care system is is ready to tackle the monkey pox virus.

The assurance comes from Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh, even as he revealed there are no screening tests for monkey pox at the ports of entry.

As government moves to decommission the parallel health care system that was set up for Covid-19, the Minister said the Caura Hospital will be used to house monkey pox patients. 

Though T&T has not yet recorded any monkeypox cases, the disease has already been detected in the region, namely in Barbados, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Martinique and Venezuela.

Over in the United States, the Joe Biden administration is poised to declare monkeypox a public health emergency after reporting its highest daily rate of new infections at 1,048 cases on Wednesday.

Just last weekend, the World Health Organization declared monkeypox a global public health emergency.