Tag Archives: caribbean

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Haiti’s Streets Slowly Return to Life as Gangs Ease Fuel Blockade

By Gessika Thomas

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Nov 15 (Reuters) – Haitian businesses began opening their doors and activities were resuming on the country’s streets as the G9 gang coalition eased a blockade on fuel deliveries that caused crippling shortages for nearly a month.

The G9 gang federation that controls key parts of western Port-au-Prince over the weekend allowed trucks to access the Varreux fuel terminal, leading to long lines at filling stations.

Banks were operating normal hours after limiting operations due to the lack of diesel for generators, which are crucial for ensuring electricity in a country where the national grid only provide intermittent power.

Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, leader of the federation, on Friday said the group would allow fuel trucks to get access to the Varreux fuel terminal for one week. He warned the blockade would resume if Prime Minister Ariel Henry did not resign. read more

G9 has blocked fuel deliveries since last month demanding the resignation of the prime minister. Henry has said the government will not negotiate with criminals, and that Haitian National Police had created security cordons to help ensure the delivery of fuel.

Despite the reopening of the terminal, many drivers on Monday were still struggling to buy fuel, with some buying it in plastic containers on the black market.

“I spent the whole day yesterday looking for gas but without success,” said Oscar Julien, 41, a truck driver who delivers construction material. “I have not yet managed to fill up at a pump, I had to buy on the street because I had to get home.”

Reporting by Gessika Thomas and Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Aurora Ellis

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Cuba Cracks Down on Dissent Ahead of Planned Protest March

BBC- A Cuban man who had organised pro-democracy rallies to take place on Monday has been blocked from leaving his home by state security agents.

Security forces surrounded Yunior García’s home and those of other leading activists on Sunday.

The ruling Communist party has banned the protests, which it says are a US-backed attempt at overthrowing the government.

Hundreds of people were arrested following protests in July.

Unauthorised public gatherings are illegal in Cuba and those who turn out to march risk being jailed.

The fact that thousands of people joined July’s protests chanting “freedom” and “down with dictatorship” showed the level of discontent many in Cuba feel after more than six decades of communist rule.

In the wake of the July protests and the arrests which followed, Mr García set up a group on Facebook called Archipiélago, which sought official permission to organise peaceful demonstrations in the Cuban capital, Havana, and other cities to demand “rights for all Cubans” and the release of political prisoners.

Permission was denied but dissidents have insisted that their protest will go ahead as planned.

The BBC’s Cuba correspondent, Will Grant, says that they insist people will show their exhaustion with communist rule.

Our correspondent says that there is also defiance on the part of the government and its supporters that what they consider a US-backed attempt at an overthrow will not be permitted to gather momentum.

Mr García had planned to walk to Havana’s waterfront promenade, the Malecón, carrying a white rose a day ahead of the main protests.

But early on Sunday, state security agents and government supporters blocked the playwright from leaving his home.

As he attempted to communicate from a window of his apartment, pro-revolutionary neighbours living above him lowered a large Cuban flag to block him from view.

In a telephone interview with BBC News Mundo, Mr García said that his internet connection had been disrupted.

“I think they’re trying to keep me incommunicado,” he told BBC Mundo’s Lioman Lima.

Mr García also said that “the changes in this country are unstoppable”.

Other dissidents have also reported seeing state security agents patrolling the streets in front of their homes.

A number of Cuban journalists reported having been told not to leave their homes on Monday.

The Spanish news agency Efe said that the Cuban government withdrew press credentials from five of its journalists. Two were later reinstated but the Spanish government is demanding that all of Efe’s staff in Cuba have their credentials returned to them.

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Ecuador Prison and Armed Forces Chiefs Resign After Deadly Riots

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BBC- The head of Ecuador’s prison system and the country’s armed forces chief have resigned following a fresh gang fight which left 68 inmates dead in a jail in the city of Guayaquil.

The deadly fight happened at the same prison where 119 inmates were killed in September, also in gang warfare.

It took 900 police officers to restore order after the latest incident.

The spike in prison violence has cast a shadow over the first six months in office of President Guillermo Lasso.

In a BBC interview earlier this month, President Lasso said that prison guards needed to be armed in order to be able to confront highly organised gang members.

“There is no way that prison guards who only carry batons can confront mafias which have drones and explosives,” he said.

The most recent incident happened during a 60-day state of emergency the president had declared inside the prison system.

The state of emergency means that extra funds can be allocated to fight violence inside the jails and also allows the military to assist guards and police in securing the prisons.

Despite the extra measures in place, another deadly fight broke out in the Litoral Penitentiary on Friday night.

Analysts have blamed the spike in prison homicides on the infiltration of Ecuadorean gangs by powerful transnational crime cartels.

They say that the acts of extreme violence – such as decapitations and the use of explosives – seen at Litoral Penitentiary were inspired by the tactics used by Mexican criminal organisations such as the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels.

The local governor said that the most recent fight was triggered by the release of a gang leader which prompted members of a rival gang to try to seize control of one of the prison wings.

“As this section of the prison was without a ringleader after he had been freed by a judge, other gangs tried to surround the wing to carry out a total massacre,” Governor Pablo Arose Mena said.

According to police, the inmates were armed with guns and explosives.

Footage shared on social media appeared to show inmates kicking and burning bodies.

Some of the relatives of those killed said that while the fight may have been triggered by gang rivalry, many of the victims were serving sentences for minor crimes and were not hardened criminals.

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EU Accuses Belarus of ‘Gangster’ Methods as Migrants Shiver at Polish Border

By and
  • Migrants stuck on border between Belarus and Poland
  • EU states accuse Belarus of stoking migrant crisis
  • EU Commission says more sanctions planned against Minsk
  • Putin discusses crisis with Lukashenko
  • Russia’s Lavrov suggests EU give financial aid to Minsk

NAREWKA, Poland, Nov 9 (Reuters) – Hundreds of migrants huddled around forest campfires in freezing temperatures on Tuesday near the Belarus-Poland border where razor wire fences and Polish border guards blocked their entry into the European Union.

The EU vowed more sanctions against Belarus, accusing President Alexander Lukashenko of using “gangster-style” tactics in the months-long border stand-off in which at least seven migrants have died.

Poland and other EU member states accuse Belarus of encouraging the migrants – from the Middle East, Afghanistan and Africa – to illegally cross the frontier into the EU in revenge for sanctions slapped on Minsk over human rights abuses.

“The Belarusian regime is attacking the Polish border, the EU, in an unparalleled manner,” Polish President Andrzej Duda told a news conference in Warsaw.

“We currently have a camp of migrants who are blocked from the Belarusian side. There are about 1,000 people there, mostly young men. These are aggressive actions that we must repel, fulfilling our obligations as a member of the European Union.”

Reuters reporters saw Polish border guards detain a group of Iraqi Kurdish migrants in a forest on the Polish side of the border on Tuesday afternoon. Medics put Red Cross blankets around some of the migrants. One elderly woman could not walk.

NGO Grupa Granica (Border Group) said there were 16 migrants in the group, nine of them children. It said the group had been pushed back and forth between Polish and Belarusian border guards four times since they reached the border on Oct. 24.

“I ask for asylum in Poland,” read a message scrawled in English on a piece of paper held up by a middle-aged man.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiekci, who earlier visited Polish troops stationed at the border, said the migrants were being used by Belarus as part of “a new type of war in which people are used as human shields”.

Lukashenko’s government, which is backed by Russia, denies engineering the migrant crisis and blames Europe and the United States for the plight of the people stranded at the border.

It summoned Poland’s defence attache on Tuesday to protest what it said were unfounded allegations about the involvement of Belarusian military personnel in the crisis.

‘BLACKMAIL’

Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation by phone and expressed concern over the build-up of Polish troops at the border, the Belarusian state news agency Belta reported on Tuesday.

“To conduct a war with these unfortunate people on the border of Poland with Belarus and move forward columns of tanks – it’s clear this is either a training exercise or it’s blackmail,” Lukashenko said in televised comments.

“We will calmly stand up to this.”

A view shows a barbed wire fence on the Polish-Belarusian border, Poland, November 9, 2021. Polish Prime Minister's Office/Handout via REUTERS
Migrants gather near a barbed wire fence in an attempt to cross the border with Poland in the Grodno region, Belarus November 8, 2021. Leonid Scheglov/BelTA/Handout via REUTERS
Migrants gather on the Belarusian-Polish border in the Grodno region, Belarus November 8, 2021. Leonid Scheglov/BelTA/Handout via REUTERS

Migrants gather near a barbed wire fence in an attempt to cross the border with Poland in the Grodno region, Belarus November 8, 2021. Leonid Scheglov/BelTA/Handout via REUTERS

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov suggested the EU provide Belarus with financial assistance to stop the migrant flows, referencing an earlier such deal with Turkey. read more

The European Commission said around 2,000 migrants had now reached the border. Some could be seen milling around tents and campfires set up just beyond Poland’s barbed-wire barrier.

“This is part of the inhuman and really gangster-style approach of the Lukashenko regime that he is lying to people, he is misusing people…and bringing them to Belarus under the false promise of having easy entry into the EU,” a Commission spokesperson said.

EU governments partially suspended a visa facilitation deal for Belarusian officials. read more

The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR called for an end to the use of vulnerable people as political pawns.

‘DANGEROUS EVENTS’

A spokesman for Poland’s security services, Stanislaw Zaryn, said Belarusian security personnel were “firing empty shots into the air, simulating dangerous events”, while also providing tools to the migrants to help them destroy the border fence.

On Monday some migrants used spades and other implements to try to break down the fence.

Poland’s Border Guard recorded 309 illegal attempts to breach the frontier on Monday and detained 17 people, mainly Iraqis.

Lithuania also reported a surge in attempted migrant crossings and followed in Poland’s footsteps by declaring a state of emergency along its border with Belarus on Tuesday.

The move allows border guards to use “mental coercion” and “proportional physical violence” to stop the migrants.

The crisis erupted after Western powers slapped sanctions on Belarus over its violent crackdown on mass street protests that were sparked by Lukashenko’s disputed claim of victory in a presidential election in 2020.

Poland denies accusations by humanitarian groups that it is violating the international right to asylum by hustling migrants back into Belarus instead of accepting their applications for protection. Warsaw says its actions are legal.

“We can never be certain what will happen to people we offer help to in this forest because Polish authorities are breaking the law and the Geneva Convention,” Grupa Granica’s Jakub Sypianski said as Polish police detained migrants nearby.

A poll by IBRiS for Polish daily Rzeczpospolita this week showed 55% of Poles believe migrants who have illegally crossed the border should be sent back.

Additional reporting by Joanna Plucinska and Pawel Florkiewicz in Warsaw, Matthias Williams in Kyiv, Sabine Siebold in Berlin, Robin Emmott in Brussels, Andrius Sytas in Kapciamiestis, Lithuania, Polina Devitt and Mark Trevelyan in Moscow; writing by Matthias Wiliams editing by Gareth Jones and Mark Heinrich

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Nevis Expecting 39 Cruise Ship Visits, NTA Claims

 NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS  — The Nevis Tourism Authority (NTA) is expecting 39 calls for the 2021/2022 cruise ship season with a capacity of 11,928 passengers.

Mr. Devon Liburd, Director of Sales and Marketing at the NTA, says the upcoming season’s calls reflect a 40 percent drop pre COVID-19.  For the 2019/2020 season there were 65 expected calls with a capacity of 15,025 passengers.

The cruise ship calls included in the 2019/2020 season came from Barefoot – Island Windjammer Cruises which made 12 calls. However, it is not on the list of vessels expected to call on the island this season.

When the last cruise season ended abruptly due to the spread of the COVID-19, Nevis had already recorded 41 calls with a passenger count of 9,183.

Mr. Liburd says the Authority remains cognizant of the fact that most cruise lines are not operating at full capacity this season, and although the total capacity expected is 11,928, “we will see less actual numbers on each call.”

He also noted that the ports on Nevis and the destination are operating under the guidelines set out by the COVID-19 Task Force, therefore all cruise visits will operate in a “bubble” experience until they are advised further.

“This means that passengers can only participate in approved tours and use certified taxi operators,” Mr. Liburd stated.

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UK to Trial Covid Vaccine Patch for Longer Immunity, China’s Major Delta Surge, Biden Push for Kids, More

UK firm to trial T-cell Covid vaccine that could give longer immunity

Exclusive: Oxfordshire-based Emergex gets go-ahead for trials in Switzerland for skin patch vaccine

An Emergex Covid-19 microneedle patch.

An Emergex Covid-19 microneedle patch. Photograph: Latch Medical

Julia Kollewe
Guardian

An Oxfordshire, UK-based company will soon start clinical trials of a second-generation vaccine against Covid-19, an easy-to-administer skin patch that uses T-cells to kill infected cells and could offer longer-lasting immunity than current vaccine

Emergex was set up in Abingdon in 2016 to develop T-cell vaccines, the brainchild of Prof Thomas Rademacher, the firm’s chief executive and professor emeritus of molecular medicine at the University College London medical school.

The vaccines prime T-cells to remove infected cells from the body quickly after infection, thus preventing viral replication and disease. While the antibodies produced by the current Covid vaccines stick to the virus and stop it infecting cells, T-cells find and destroy infected cells. Those other vaccines, such as the Pfizer/BioNTech and the AstraZeneca/Oxford University jabs, also produce a T-cell response, but to a lesser extent

Emergex has received the green light from the Swiss drugs regulator to conduct initial human trials in Lausanne, involving 26 people who will receive a high and a low dose of its experimental Covid-19 vaccine, starting on 3 January. Interim results from the trial are expected in June.

Robin Cohen, the firm’s chief commercial officer, said: “This is the first time a regulator has approved a Covid vaccine to go into clinical trials whose sole purpose is to generate a targeted T-cell response in the absence of an antibody response and those T-cells look for infected cells and kills them.”

Using the analogy of an asteroid hitting a planet, he explained: “The virus is the asteroid: it fires into the planet and a viral code, a signature for that virus, is rapidly displayed all over the surface. These signatures are read by T-cells as foreign, and the T-cells kill the cell before it can produce new live viruses.”

Current Covid-19 vaccines mainly elicit an antibody response that wanes over time, which means people need booster shots to maintain protection against the virus. The Emergex vaccine works differently, by killing infected cells quickly. This means it could offer longer-lasting immunity – possibly for decades – and could also be better at fighting virus mutations, said Cohen.

A study published in Nature last week showed that some people experience “abortive infection” in which the virus enters the body but is cleared by the immune system’s T-cells at the earliest stage. Scientists said the discovery could pave the way for a new generation of vaccines targeting the T-cell response, which could produce much longer lasting immunity.

Danny Altmann, a professor of immunology at Imperial College London, said he doubted that a T-cell vaccine “could do the job on its own” but it could play a complementary role, in a mix-and-match approach where different vaccines are given for the first, second and third doses.

He said mRNA vaccines such as the Pfizer/BioNTech shot work so well because they produce a strong neutralising antibody response. The Pfizer vaccine has been shown to be more effective against Covid than the AstraZeneca/Oxford jab, which elicits a stronger T-cell response.

But a T-cell vaccine could be used to complement other jabs, he said, as T-cell vaccines might be more impervious to virus mutations. “Antibodies are very sensitive to mutations while T-cells can see many other parts of the virus. Maybe that’s a selling point for T-cell vaccines.”

He noted that the idea of T-cell vaccines was not new – for example, Prof Sarah Gilbert, the University of Oxford professor who developed the AZ/Oxford jab, has been working on them for influenza for more than a decade.

Cohen said the tricky part was working out the delivery mechanism for the Emergex vaccine to the immune system. Rademacher and his team settled on tiny gold particles coated in peptides (bits of proteins) designed to generate the T-cell response in the body.

The vaccine will eventually be administered as a skin patch the size of a thumbnail bristling with micro-needles that release the shot within seconds. It can last for up to three months at room temperature, unlike other jabs that need to be stored in the freezer or fridge.

The trial will be conducted by Prof Blaise Genton from the centre for primary care and public health at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. He said: “This exciting new scientific approach to developing a vaccine against Sars-CoV-2 addresses the need to generate a T-cell response to elicit long-term immunity.”

However, the Emergex shot will not be available until 2025 at the earliest, the usual timeframe for vaccine development. Last year Covid vaccines were developed within months as the regulatory process was speeded up, but the emergency has passed, said Cohen.

Emergex is testing another T-cell vaccine against dengue fever on humans in a separate Swiss trial, with initial results due in January. Half the world is at risk from dengue fever, according to the World Health Organization, and there is no specific treatment or vaccine for it. The firm also wants to deploy its T-cell vaccines against influenza, Zika, Ebola and other infections.

Dr Andrew Freedman, a reader in infectious diseases at Cardiff University school of medicine, said last week: “A vaccine that primes T-cell immunity against different viral protein targets that are shared between many different coronaviruses would complement our spike vaccines that induce neutralising antibodies.”

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China fights biggest Delta outbreak as cases grow in city of Dalian

Reuters

 

People line up for nucleic acid testing at a residential compound following local cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Dalian, Liaoning province, China November 10, 2021. China Daily via REUTERS

People line up for nucleic acid testing at a residential compound following local cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Dalian, Liaoning province, China November 10, 2021. China Daily via REUTERS

 

BEIJING, Nov 15 (Reuters) – China is battling the spread of its biggest COVID-19 outbreak caused by the Delta variant, according to numbers announced on Monday, with travellers from a city where infections have grown faster than elsewhere in the country subject to tough quarantine rules in nearby areas.

Chinese authorities said 32 new domestically transmitted infections with confirmed symptoms have been reported for Nov. 14, most of which were in northeastern Dalian city. That brings the tally of local cases since Oct. 17 to 1,308, Reuters calculations based on official data showed, surpassing the 1,280 local cases from a summer Delta outbreak.

This marks China’s most widespread Delta outbreak, which has affected 21 provinces, regions and municipalities. While it is smaller than many outbreaks in other countries, Chinese authorities are anxious to block any further transmissions under the government’s zero-tolerance guidance.

A dozen province-level regions contained their flare-ups within weeks in the current outbreak, thanks to quick implementation of a complex set of curbs, including rigorous contact tracing, multiple rounds of testing of people in at risk areas, the closure of entertainment and cultural venues and restrictions on tourism and public transport.

However, Dalian remains locked in a struggle with the virus, Wu Liangyou, an official at the National Health Commission has said.

Since Dalian’s first local symptomatic patients from the latest outbreak was reported on Nov. 4, the port city of 7.5 million people has detected an average of about 24 new local cases a day, more than any other Chinese cities, according to Reuters calculations.

A few cities near Dalian, including Dandong, Anshan and Shenyang, have said people arriving from Dalian have to be quarantined at centralised facilities for 14 days before they can move freely, in an unusually cautious measure.

As of Nov. 14, mainland China had reported 98,315 confirmed coronavirus cases with symptoms, including domestically transmitted infections and those from overseas. There have been 4,636 deaths.

Reuters Graphics

Reuters Graphics

Reporting by Ryan Woo, Roxanne Liu and Ella Cao; Editing by Kim Coghill and Raju Gopalakrishnan

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BACKING THE KIDS VACCINE PUSH

First lady Jill Biden on Monday urged parents to vaccinate their children against COVID-19, saying that it’s the parents’ choice but arguing that vaccines are the best way to protect children.

“From the day you held your sweet, fragile, little baby for the first time, you have made the choice, again and again, to keep your child safe. Getting your kids the Covid-19 vaccine is your choice, too. Make the decision to protect your children with the same vaccine that has already saved millions of lives,” Biden wrote in a CNN op-ed.

While traveling to more than 30 states this year, she said parents have asked her when the vaccine for children is coming.

“Now, it’s here — not just another way to protect your kids against Covid-19, but the best way. It’s been thoroughly reviewed and rigorously tested. It’s safe. It’s free and it’s available for every eligible child in the country,” she said.

Biden and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy visited Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston on Sunday to urge parents to vaccinate children ages 5-11.

Biden said the administration worked closely with pediatricians and pharmacists so that schools and more than 100 children’s hospitals can offer the vaccine shots, reiterating the convenience for parents taking children to get vaccinated.

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Fauci: ‘A typical’ Thanksgiving for vaccinated

© Getty Images

Anthony Fauci said on Monday that families who are vaccinated against COVID-19 can “feel good about enjoying a typical” Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.

President Biden’s chief medical adviser warned that the U.S. is still counting tens of thousands of new cases per day and recommended masks in indoor congregate settings.

But he said the fully vaccinated should feel comfortable gathering with other vaccinated family and friends in private settings this holiday season.

“If you get vaccinated and your family’s vaccinated, you can feel good about enjoying a typical Thanksgiving, Christmas with your family and close friends,” he said at a Bipartisan Policy Center event.

“When you go to indoor congregate settings, go the extra mile, be safe, wear a mask,” he added. “But when you are with your family at home, goodness, enjoy it with your parents, your children, your grandparents. There’s no reason not to do that.”

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SKN To Stage World Class Cultural Event at Dubai’s Expo 2020

 Dubai, UAE- On November 16, St. Kitts and Nevis will celebrate its National Day at Dubai’s EXPO 2020 and the world gathered is in for  a treat.

Director of Culture, Troy Mills, has led a 12-member contingent of masquerades, drummers/fifer and soca artist to Dubai for a world-class cultural performance.

The contingent includes Elvis Browne from Vibes Masquerades; Halisha Hendrickson and Denis Weekes of Huggins’ Masquerades; Althus Herbert Chevaun Matthew and Jason Wilkes of Valon’s Masquerades; and Dwayne Rogers and Felicia Woods of Sylvester’s Masquerades; Kristor Hanley from Nevis, Fifer; Colin Freeman from Nevis, Kettle Drum; Terrence Joshua from Nevis, Bass Drum, and Delly Ranks from Nevis, Performer/Singer. Mr. Antonio “Abonaty” Liburd has also accompanied the delegation.

Mills said the team is excited to represent St. Kitts and Nevis at EXPO 2020.

“The members of St. Kitts and Nevis combined mas credit troop is extremely excited to be representing our federation at EXPO 2020 Dubai. Every single member is anticipating a very high energy and entertaining performance and the general feeling is that all of the members will each step up his or her game to ensure that if it is only one country that persons who attend the EXPO will remember, it is the performances of the masquerades,” Mr. Mills said.

He added: “Apart from performing on our national day, the masquerades are booked for two performances on November 17 at the Sun Stage, two performances at the Sea Stage on November 18, and a double performance at the Earth Stage on November 19. The dancers and musicians are so far displaying extremely high levels of energy which they will take into the seven performances and especially on our national day.”

Delly Ranks, a soca artist and past soca monarch, who hails from Nevis, will entertain the global audience with a medley of patriotic songs.

EXPO 2020 Dubai was originally scheduled to take place from 20th October, 2020 to 10th April, 2021 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The name EXPO 2020 was kept for marketing and branding purposes. The making of EXPO 2020 Dubai took 8 years and 7 billion dollars.

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PAHO Director Says Mandatory Vax Requirements are Up to Individual Nations

CMC-  The director of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), Dr Carissa Etienne, says it should be left to sovereign states to decide whether or not to enforce a mandatory coronavirus (COVID19) vaccination programme for its population as she urged Dominica to “seriously consider” any call to relax measures to allow for activities such as Carnival.

“Our position is that this is a sovereign decision. We know that making vaccines mandatory have been fraught with civil unrest, demonstrations etc. What we do know however that where mandatory vaccination has been deployed, like among health care workers in some countries, the coverage has risen to 94, 95 per cent from 40 something, 50 something…,” Dr Etienne said on Sunday night.

Speaking on the weekly television programme “Annou Pale” (Let’s Speak), hosted by Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, the Dominican-born senior PAHO official said the UN organisation is also aware of businesses that have imposed either mandatory vaccination or testing programmes.

“Some say you can’t work here if you are not vaccinated, others say every week you have to bring me a negative COVID test.

“Now that is one of my concerns too because I find when I look at the figures in Dominica that instead of going and getting vaccinated they are going for tests. How many thousands of tests people are going to take?

“Really testing is not going to prevent you from getting COVID. What you should be doing is getting vaccinated. So at some stage, you have to consider letting people pay for those tests. If your business place says you must provide tests then you should go and get the test commercially because the government has provided you with vaccines, they provided you with the information, if you want to go and expose yourself, then pay for it,” she said.

Dr Etienne, who is in Dominica on vacation from her Washington post, said Dominicans should seriously consider taking the COVID vaccines available to them, recalling that with measles, countries needed at least 95 per cent coverage to prevent an outbreak.

“Now, if there are enough people vaccinated, the virus has greater difficulty spreading from one person to another because the transmissibility to a vaccinated person is much less than an unvaccinated person.

“So if there are sufficient numbers that are vaccinated the virus will stop having susceptible people and so it will stop the transmission. Another thing we have to consider is that as long as the transmission is occurring then we can have the emergence of variants”.

She told viewers that there are people who believe that the variants are only those labelled as Alpha, Beta and Gramna, noting that variants are occurring all the time.

“Not all of them rise to the level of a variant of concern,” she said, noting that “Dominica and the Caribbean had Delta variant and that was responsible for the massive increase we have seen. In Latin America Delta was not the main variant of concern, it was more Gamma, but Delta had higher transmissibility and caused worse diseases.

The vaccination helps, We had smallpox, a terrible disease that killed and the way we stopped smallpox was by vaccination when a sufficient number of people were vaccinated there were no more susceptibles and the virus died.”

Dr Etienne was described as a “no brainer” when asked to comment on the calls by people here for Dominica to host Carnival activities next year.

“People who are vaccinated can be infected and they can pass on the infection. I think we need to know that. But those who are not vaccinated have a higher chance of becoming infected and passing on that infection.”

She said that the public health measures call for social distancing, proper washing of hands and the wearing of masks, which some people are not adhering to.

“Until people become very serious about adhering to the public health measures, they have to learn to accept there is the possibility and it is the government’s responsibility to protect the people in terms of the public health and I dare say your hands are tied by the people themselves.

“We have seen in countries that have significant 70 per cent or more vaccination coverage when they relax on the public health measures they get another spike.

“SARS are to be considered pretty seriously. Once you congregate there is always an opportunity for infection. If it is a Carnival situation, people are going to be drinking, they are not going to be wearing their masks …and so that increases the opportunity and as I said even though you are vaccinated you can be infected and you can transmit that infection as well.

“Now how are you going to ensure that everybody who hands you a certificate that that person is vaccinated. Do they have to bring an ID card so you can verify,” she said, warning that persons could present false documents to participate in the event.

“One of the serious considerations as well is, if you have this mass congregation and then you begin another wave of cases, what is the capacity of your health system to deal with a large number of cases”.

She said that in many of the bigger countries the health system and health services have been overwhelmed by COVID cases “mulches for a small island with the capacity that we have.

‘Where are you going to treat with them? Who is going to take care of them? How are you going to manage? Where are you going to get the resources and investments to do this? These are serious questions that would need to be considered by any government and that is our recommendation to them.

‘You have to weigh the relaxing of public health measures with are your health system and services ready to deal with a large number of cases,” she said, adding that similar recommendations are also made when countries engage in election campaigns.

‘Because we have seen a massive increase in cases after election campaigns,” Dr Etienne told the television audience.

Dominica has recorded 35 deaths and 5, 336 infections linked to COVID-19 pandemic since last March.

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CARICOM Seeking COVID-19 Pills and Vaccines from US

CNW- Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), grouping, Prime Minister Gaston Browne, says he has instructed the CARICOM Secretariat to seek vaccines and pills from the United States government as the region continues to deal with the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

A statement issued following the weekly Cabinet meeting here said that Prime Minister Browne had reported to his ministers that “he has instructed the CARICOM Secretariat to seek vaccines and the COVID prophylactic pills from the US government that have been developed by the USA pharmaceutical companies”.

Last week, Pfizer said its COVID-19 pill, PAXLOVID, reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by 89 percent from any cause compared to placebo in non-hospitalized high-risk adults with COVID-19 who were treated within three days of the onset of symptoms.

In October, interim data from a Phase 3 study, showed that Molnupiravir, an investigational oral antiviral drug that was discovered by researchers at Emory University, appeared to significantly reduce the risk of hospitalization or death in patients with mild to moderate COVID-19.

The analysis was conducted by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, which are currently developing the drug after licensing it from Drug Innovation Ventures at Emory (DRIVE).

The Cabinet statement said that Prime Minister Browne had also indicated that he would meet on Thursday with the Barbados-based United States ambassador to the Eastern Caribbean, Linda S. Taglialatela and her delegation.

The US delegation members were present to hand over a gift of two field hospitals at the Defence Force base of Camp Blizzard that came together can care for up to 80 patients.

The air-conditioned medical units are equipped with collapsible beds, sinks, 12 ventilators, plus generators for oxygen and electricity, and can be quickly assembled for anything from a severe virus outbreak to a catastrophic hurricane.

Taglialatela described the facilities as a “symbol of our commitment to the health and wellbeing of our neighbors in this hemisphere.’

“It will increase the ability to address the pandemic, along with future challenges from natural disasters,” she added.

Meanwhile, Antigua and Barbuda will allow bars and clubs to reopen from Monday, November 15, and that all customers must be fully vaccinated and must present their photo ID vaccination cards for entry.

“All staff at these bars and clubs must also be fully vaccinated. Fetes will not yet be allowed until community immunity is achieved. Pleasure craft are also allowed to operate but must adhere to the covid-19 protocols which include vaccinated patrons and workers, the provision of sanitizing and temperature stations on board,” the Cabinet statement said.

It said that a travel advisory is to be issued shortly that would give permission to passengers arriving in Antigua and Barbuda to take an approved rapid-test effective November 17 and to be fully vaccinated in order to gain entry.

CMC

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Another Pandemic First: Three Cruise Ships Docking at St. John’s Harbour

For the first time since the pandemic, three ships are simultaneously docked at the Nevis Street Pier and Heritage Quay piers. (Photos by Makeida Antonio)

By Makeida Antonio

A&B Observer

For the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic began in March 2020, three cruise vessels were docked at St John’s Harbour yesterday.

Cruise tourism officials held a plaque exchange ceremony to welcome the Sky Princess on its maiden voyage to Antigua and Barbuda, and the Silver Whisper which has added the twin island nation to its itinerary since its return to Caribbean waters. The third vessel which spent Sunday in the port is the British vessel Britannia.

Minister of Tourism Charles Fernandez expressed his delight in witnessing almost normal activity in St John’s as a result of the ships choosing the country as a top destination.

“Driving through St John’s and coming here was really amazing to see so many people off the ship walking into St John’s. We have the nicest people in the Caribbean, that’s a big thing, but I think in addition to that we’re doing a lot of work to the port and word was gotten out,” he told the media yesterday.

Fernandez explained that technical aspects of the industry have been positively taken into consideration, making a more refined cruise tourism product.

“For example, the captains themselves have told me that the widening of the channel coming in has been a big improvement for them. Traditionally, in high winds, some of the boats have to turn back. That is not happening now, they are very confident in coming in. In addition to that, the fact Global Ports Holding is managing the port has put a new level of management. As you know, they are the largest port operators in the world so they bring a tremendous amount of expertise.”

General Manager of Antigua Cruise Port, Dona Regis-Prosper reported that approximately 2,600 passengers in total were aboard all three ships which docked at the Nevis Street and Heritage Quay piers. She thanked all stakeholders for their hard work in ensuring the safety and security of locals and visitors alike.

“We have our joint efforts of the Ministry of Health, Wellness and Environment where every single passenger that comes to Antigua has to go through that process. We have a team from the Ministry of Health to ensure that the passengers go through that additional screening prior to disembarking into the destination,” she indicated yesterday.

Operations Manager of Antigua Cruise Port, Rawle Reynolds reiterated that having low Covid-19 cases as well as an increase in the vaccination rate makes Antigua and Barbuda a more appealing destination for tourists looking to travel to the Caribbean.

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