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By Patrick Oppmann, CNN

Havana, Cuba (CNN) A high-ranking official in Cuba’s foreign ministry is calling for the Biden administration to restore relations with the island in light of a recent CIA report that found most “Havana syndrome” cases were unlikely to have been caused by a foreign power.

The spate of mysterious health incidents that have plagued American diplomats and CIA personnel in Havana, Cuba, among other cities, can be explained by environmental causes, undiagnosed medical conditions and other factors, rather than “a sustained worldwide campaign” by a foreign adversary intended to harm US personnel, CIA officials said last week, describing interim findings from a wide-ranging study.

While Cuban officials rarely agree with anything their longtime nemesis, the CIA, says, Carlos Fernández de Cossío Domínguez, a vice minister at Cuba’s foreign ministry, told CNN that the report should provide enough evidence for US President Joe Biden to order the reopening of embassies and normalize relations.

“The logical step by the US government with this evidence, with what they know now would be to put aside the excuse used at the time about attacks and then normalize the functioning and the operating of their embassy in Havana and to normalize our embassy in Washington,” said Fernández de Cossío, who served as director general of US affairs at the Cuban foreign ministry.

CIA assesses it’s unlikely Havana syndrome is due to ‘sustained worldwide campaign’ by a foreign country in interim report

In 2016, US diplomats and undercover CIA officers in their homes and hotel rooms in Havana began complaining of unexplained symptoms, such as dizziness and pounding headaches. These sometimes were accompanied by an unidentified “piercing directional noise” that sounded as if metal was being scraped across a floor.

Eventually, 24 diplomats were diagnosed with brain damage that ranged from mild impairment to injuries “so severe they may never be able to return to their previous jobs.”

US officials feared the unexplained illnesses might have been caused by “sonic attacks,” an unknown directed energy weapon or microwaves.

In 2017, the US ejected 15 Cuban diplomats and withdrew most of its diplomats working in Havana, ending consular services for Cubans seeking visas to the US. Last year, the US government estimated that more than 100,000 Cubans had been unable to receive visas to travel to the US as a result of the closure of the consulate in Havana.

As investigators examined the circumstances surrounding the incidents, President Donald Trump said he believed Cuba was to blame.

Even though additional US diplomats in China, Austria, and other countries reported feeling similar symptoms, Cuban officials say they were singled out by Washington.

“Cuba is the only country that is being punished because of this, which proves there was no justification — which proves that this was a government delivered operation to use the excuse of symptoms suffered by diplomats to take action against Cuba,” Fernández de Cossío said.

In the interim findings delivered to Biden and briefed to Congress in recent weeks, the CIA reported it had yet to find any evidence that a nation-state is behind any of roughly 1,000 reported episodes around the globe.

Some of the diplomats and their family members expressed frustration following the release of the interim report that the US government still was unable to identify the cause of their symptoms.

A senior CIA official said the agency hasn’t ruled out that a smaller subset of incidents could be attacks, and the intelligence community continues to investigate “whether any device or mechanism plausibly could cause the symptoms reported.”

Fernández de Cossío said the CIA may once again try to accuse the communist-run island of being involved in the incidents: “It’s an agency known for its tricks and not for its honesty so one would think that they are leaving room for themselves to produce whatever version in the future.”

CNN’s Katie Bo Lillis contributed to this report.

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US: Omicron pushes deaths past 2,000 per day

© AP.

The average number of U.S. COVID-19 deaths this week surpassed the height of the delta surge earlier this fall and is at its highest point since last winter, when the nation was coming out of the peak winter surge.

The seven-day average of deaths hit 2,166 on Monday, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Average daily deaths in mid-September before the omicron variant was discovered peaked at around 1,900.

While increasing evidence shows omicron may be less likely to cause death or serious illness than delta, the sheer infectiousness and the speed at which it spreads has overwhelmed hospitals, primarily with people who have not been vaccinated.

The U.S. saw the highest numbers of deaths in the pandemic just over a year ago, before vaccines were widely available, when the daily average reached 3,400. The last time the U.S. topped 2,000 deaths was last February, as the country was slowly coming down from the January peak.

Caution urged: Infections are falling in states that were hardest hit earlier, as well as broadly across the nation. Hospitalizations are also falling, but deaths are a lagging indicator and are still increasing. CDC Director Rochelle Walsenky said deaths have increased about 21 percent over the past week.

The fact that the omicron variant tends to cause less severe disease on average also helped avoid an even greater crisis that would have occurred if it was as severe as the delta variant.

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Covid: Care home rules to ease and end of masks and Covid passes in England

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

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NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS — The Department of Public Health on Nevis has embarked on a “Let’s Get Vaxxed Raffle” simultaneously with a “Let’s Get Vaxxed Refferal Drive” with major prizes at stake in an effort to encourage younger persons to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Ms. Shavenee Nisbett, Senior Health Educator in the Ministry of Health while speaking to the Department of Information on January 24, 2022 gave the basis for the raffle.

“This raffle was created to encourage persons to get vaccinated, so that we can get a higher percentage of persons vaccinated and our island would be more protected against COVID-19, and so we decided to come up with a raffle that is attractive to persons, especially the younger persons. They would be able to enter the raffle as soon as they take their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

“For the “Let’s Get Vaxxed Raffle” we are targeting persons between the age of 12-21, and the prizes to be won are: the latest iPhone 13, the Samsung S21, Galaxy pods, Apple AirPods, smart watch, a laptop and the Apple Xbox or PlayStation Amazon gift card,” she said.

In order to get vaccinated young persons between the age of 12 and 17 must have permission from their parents.

The “Let’s Get Vaxxed Refferal Drive” is opened to all age groups from 12 years and above. Ms Nisbett also explained the guidelines for the second raffle.

“If you refer someone to get the COVID-19 vaccine you are eligible to enter the raffle. The prizes for this one is: a washing machine, a 60inch smart gaming compatible television, air pods – the Galaxy pods and the Apple pods and of course, either the iPhone 13 or the Samsung S21.

“The referrer must be fully vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccine would be able to participate, and the vaccinated person is also eligible to enter the raffle… as long as they take their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine before the end of February this year, then both persons are eligible to enter.”

The Senior Health Educator added, that there are persons who are eligible to enter both raffles at the same time. If one lives in a household where there is someone between the age of 12 to 21 who has not yet taken the vaccine, that person can then take the vaccine. If they were referred by someone who has already taken the vaccine, then the person who referred them can also enter the raffle as well, as the other person enters the raffle twice.

The ongoing raffle and drive commenced in December 2021 and according to Ms. Nisbett, only one ticket per fully vaccinated person may be submitted but it must be submitted by the vaccine recipient.

The referral ticket must be completed and signed by both the referral and the vaxxed recipient, and of course this could be dropped into the envelopes at the health centre. So this all takes place at the health centre.“Once you get your second dose of the vaccine, the nurses will remind you that you are eligible to enter the raffle but you could always remind them if nothing was said and you would like to enter,” she said.

The drawing for the raffle and referral drive takes place at the end of February. However, both close on the last day of February and the date for the draw will be announced later.

 Responding to the reaction of the raffle and referral drive so far, Ms. Nisbett noted that they have been going well but the department remains hopeful that they will see an increase in younger persons on Nevis taking part and getting vaccinated.

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