Tag Archives: caribbean

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St Lucia the Latest CARICOM Country to Register Delta Variant

st lucia cmo
Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sharon Belmar George

St Lucia has become the latest CARICOM country to confirm the presence of the Delta variant of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Sharon Belmar-George, told a news conference, Friday, that the island has now recorded three cases of the virus, joining Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada in registering the presence of the deadly virus within a 72 hour period.

She told reporters that the three cases were among six new cases of Variants of Concern, the others being the Alpha Variant, which had been detected from the last batch of results of tests received from the Trinidad-based Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA).

“We have noted three new Delta cases in the country. These are the first Delta variant cases that we have recorded in the country,” she said, adding that the three Delta cases included two United States nationals and one St. Lucia.

“Of the three, only one was fully vaccinated,” she said

The Chief Medical Officer said that being fully vaccinated does not prevent a person from contracting the virus that has killed 95 people and infected 6, 112 others since the first case was detected in march last year.

“In some countries based on the vaccine taken we see about 15 percent, 10 percent, five percent of persons getting what we call breakthrough infection where you are fully vaccinated and you can get COVID-19.

“So there is a risk of someone who is fully vaccinated can still get the disease but we have a number of layers of protection, one is a request for a pre-test before arrival into the country,” she said, acknowledging that there is also a possibility that during travel a person could become infected.

“There is still that risk of you coming in and spread,” she said, adding that the authorities have not yet qualified the rate of a fully vaccinated person transmitting the disease here.

“We know it is less because in someone who is fully vaccinated and develops COVID-19 , the viral load…is a low…(and) those persons tend to be asymptomatic or have very very mild symptoms.

“For the cases we have noted in country coming in, most persons need to do an exit test to leave country…we have not managed any outbreaks for transmissions from those persons. When we test those around them, when we test those who work with them, we have not had any outbreaks.

Dr. Belmar- George said that discussions will be held with various stakeholders from next week, including mini-bus operators, those in the tourism industry and the business community.

“We are at a very critical point, we have to reduce every single risk as much as possible. Enforcement of all of the public health protocols in every single sector is extremely important at this point,” she added.

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Prime Minister Harris hails the Republic of India on its 75th Independence Day

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, August 15, 2021 (MMS-SKN) — Prime Minister of the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, Dr the Hon Timothy Harris, on Sunday August 15 lauded the Republic of India which he said was a major world player across many spheres of socioeconomic engagement.

Prime Minister Harris who was the Chief Guest at Republic of India’s 75th Independence Day Celebrations and Flag Hoisting ceremony held at the St. Kitts International Academy (S.K.I.) at Morgan Heights in Canada Estate, St. Kitts, also hailed the contribution that has been made in the country and the wider Caribbean by nationals and residents of Indian descent.

At the ceremony which was chaired by Dr Pushparaj Shetty, the Prime Minister noted that the Indian Independence Day was a wonderful celebration of a people taking control of their own destiny. He said that in the last 75 years India has been independent, for the force it is now, the country has become a powerhouse.  

He said that throughout his political life he would have been honoured to meet with many representatives of the Indian Government, through his involvement in Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings, the United Nation’s General Assembly, and meetings of Non-Aligned Movement.

  • Prime Minister Dr the Hon Timothy Harris, who was the Chief Guest at the Republic of India’s 75th Independence Day Celebrations, delivering feature remarks.
  • Prime Minister Harris (dark suit), Businessman Mr Anand Samtani (to his left), and Dr Venkatesh Bheemaiah (to his right) watch as children hoist the flag of India.
  • Dr Venkatesh Bheemaiah reading the message from the High Commissioner of India, His Excellency Dr K.J. Srinivasa
  • Prime Minister Dr the Hon Timothy Harris poses with children and some of their parents.

“When you meet with the Indian leaders, you can understand very quickly why India has become the global leader it is today,” said Prime Minister Harris. “India stands as a major world player across many spheres of socioeconomic engagement. But today it is more than just about celebrating India’s independence, and all she has achieved in her relatively short life as an independent nation.”

Saying that Independence Day was also a chance to acknowledge the contribution made by the Indian community in the region, Prime Minister Harris noted that the community has had a long and proud history throughout the Caribbean, which can be traced back to over 150 years ago.

“Here in St. Kitts and Nevis you the members of the Indian community who have been a core part of our Federation since the 1860s,” noted the Honourable Prime Minister. “You are involved now in every facet of our community – and our nation of St. Kitts and Nevis is better, stronger, and richer for it.”

The relationship between the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis and the Republic of India is a close one, the Prime Minister noted. He observed that the strength of the friendship was on full display during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic when, thanks to the generosity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India donated much needed vaccines to St. Kitts and Nevis in March 2021. It was the very first country ahead of many other nations.

“That donation made all the difference and it helped save many, many lives right here in the Federation of St Kitts and Nevis,” noted Dr Harris. “The vaccine donation helped us fight the worst of Covid-19 ravages and put us ahead of the game. Today, St. Kitts and Nevis has one of the largest vaccination rollout in the Caribbean region and in the Hemisphere. It is a contribution that we will always be grateful and we will never forget, that in our time of need, the Government and people of India came to our assistance.”

The Indian community is interwoven in the fabric of life of St. Kitts and Nevis, observed the Prime Minister. From the country’s food to its commerce, their integration as a culture is seamless he said, adding that they have much to be proud of in their Indian heritage, just as they have much to be proud of as citizens and residents of the beautiful Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis. The Federation is better, so much better, because of their presence and their constructive contribution, he added.

“So today I want to say thank you for the role you play and for helping us to build a stronger and safer future right here in our twin island paradise,” said Prime Minister Harris in conclusion. “I wish you a joyous celebration and every happiness on this, your Independence Day. May God bless our Indian community, and may He continue to bless our beautiful Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis.”

The Indian flag which was raised before the Prime Minister made his remarks, was hoisted by children of Indian descent living in St. Kitts and Nevis, after which they sang the Indian National Anthem, which was followed by the singing of the National Anthem of the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis.

Message from the non-resident Indian High Commissioner of the Republic of India to the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, who resides in Georgetown, Guyana, His Excellency Dr K.J. Srinivasa, was read by Dr Venkatesh Bheemaiah, Dean of Student Affairs, Windsor University School of Medicine.  

“It gives me great pleasure to wish all Indians living in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis a very happy 75th Independence Day,” said the High Commissioner. “India sees its Independence Day as a festival of freedom and democracy which has been made possible by generations of freedom fighters who made great sacrifices to free the nation from the tyranny of foreign rule.”

Apart from the donation of the made-in-India Covid-19 COVISHIELD vaccines, the His Excellency the High Commissioner said that India has donated emergency medicines worth US$100,000 and has authorised projects worth US$300,000 to upgrade health in this beautiful country.

“I take this opportunity to specially thank H.E. Dr the Hon Timothy Harris, Prime Minister of the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis and all our local friends who have made time to attend this simple flag raising ceremony. I miss being in St. Kitts and Nevis and I hope to join you all soon.”

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US Blame Game: What Went Wrong in Afghanistan?

The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan on Sunday, capturing control of the capital city of Kabul and leaving Washington debating two key questions: what exactly went wrong with the U.S.’s withdrawal mission, and who is to blame.

The Taliban entered Kabul on Sunday, unleashing chaos throughout the region and marking the culmination of a weeks-long effort by the insurgent group to capture key provincial capitals in Afghanistan as the U.S. withdrew troops from the region.

The pivotal advances by the insurgent group drove Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to flee the country. He later released a statement saying he had done so to avoid clashes in Kabul that could lead to further bloodshed.

Hours later, Al Jazeera aired video footage that showed members of the Taliban inside the presidential palace in Kabul.

The group’s leadership reportedly addressed the media from the throne of power while flanked by armed fighters. A Taliban spokesman told The Associated Press the group was holding talks on forming an “open, inclusive Islamic government.”

The U.S. reacted quickly to the rapidly escalating situation on Sunday, evacuating personnel from the embassy in Kabul and deploying an additional 1,000 troops to help pull Americans and Afghans from the region, bringing the total number of authorized military personnel to roughly 6,000.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price announced on Sunday evening that the “safe evacuation” of all personnel from the embassy in Kabul was complete, adding that the individuals “are located on the premises of Hamid Karzai International Airport, whose perimeter is secured by the U.S. Military.”

Images of Chinooks evacuating personnel from the consulate circulated on social media, leading some to compare the rapidly deteriorating situation and hasty departure to America’s exit from Vietnam in 1975.

The Pentagon and State Department also announced in a joint statement Sunday night that the U.S. is taking steps to secure the Hamid Karzai International Airport to help remove Americans and Afghans from the country.

While Washington watched chaos ensue in Afghanistan as the once hopeful democratic nation was overrun by the Taliban, Americans were left grappling with and arguing over what went wrong in the withdrawal effort and who is to blame for the harrowing fall of the nation just weeks before the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that sparked America’s longest war.

Republican lawmakers were quick to jump to the offensive on Sunday, blaming President Biden for the state of affairs in Afghanistan.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) released a fiery statement on Sunday that said the administration’s “botched exit” from Afghanistan is “a shameful failure of American leadership” and accused Biden of “publicly and confidently” dismissing threats of Taliban advances following the U.S.’s troop withdrawal.

Rep. Michael McCaul (Texas), the top Republican lawmaker on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Biden is “going to have blood on his hands” for his decision to pull troops from the region, adding that the administration “totally blew this one” and “completely underestimated the strength of the Taliban.”

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La) drew a comparison between the unfolding situation in Afghanistan and the U.S.’s exit from Vietnam, calling the events “President Biden’s Saigon moment.”

The Biden administration, however, is defending its efforts in South Asia, doubling down on its position that pulling troops from Afghanistan was the right move and that the Taliban’s offensive was inevitable.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken argued on Sunday that the insurgent group’s takeover of Afghanistan would have occurred even if U.S. forces remained on the ground.

“The idea that the status quo could have been maintained by keeping our forces there, I think, is simply wrong,” he told CNN’s Jake Tapper.

He continued, contending that the U.S. “would have been back at war with the Taliban” had American forces remained engaged in Afghanistan.

The secretary also pushed back on comparisons between the situation in Afghanistan and the fall of Saigon. When asked by Tapper if the U.S. is “already in the midst of a Saigon moment,” Blinken responded, “No, we’re not.”

“Remember, this is not Saigon,” he said, adding that the U.S. completed its mission to “deal with the folks who attacked us on 9/11” and that it “succeeded in that mission.”

Blinken did, however, recognize that Afghan forces were “unable to defend the country,” and the Taliban takeover “happened more quickly than we anticipated.”

Biden was silent on the situation Sunday, but he had sounded a similar note on Saturday night, writing in a statement that additional years of U.S. military presence in Afghanistan “would not have made a difference if the Afghan military cannot or will not hold its own country.”

“And an endless American presence in the middle of another country’s civil conflict was not acceptable to me,” he added.

He also pinned some of the blame for the declining situation in Afghanistan on the Trump administration, arguing that the deal brokered by the former president put Biden in a predicament with no good way out.

“Therefore, when I became President, I faced a choice—follow through on the deal, with a brief extension to get our forces and our allies’ forces out safely, or ramp up our presence and send more American troops to fight once again in another country’s civil conflict,” Biden wrote.

He continued, noting that four American presidents have led the U.S. during its involvement in Afghanistan, adding that he “would not, and will not, pass this war onto a fifth.”

All eyes are now on Biden, with onlookers from both inside and outside the Beltway waiting to see if, and when, the commander in chief will address the developments in Afghanistan, and how he will speak to the American people as they watch a U.S. ally fall to the insurgent group.

Biden is currently at Camp David, where he is scheduled to remain through Wednesday, but discussions are reportedly underway regarding if he will comment on the developments and potentially travel back to the White House. He had no public events on a schedule released by the White House on Sunday evening.

The president held conversations with key national security officials on Sunday, according to the White House, which released a photo of Biden at a table alone in Camp David being briefed by members of his team virtually.

Blinken on Sunday spoke separately with his counterparts in Australia, France, Germany and Norway about the recent developments in Afghanistan and “efforts to bring our citizens to safety and assist vulnerable Afghans,” according to State Department spokesman Ned Price.

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Three Tropical Storm SystemsThreatening Florida, Haiti and Bermuda

Three tropical systems were churning early Monday in the Atlantic basin and threatening to impact the U.S. Gulf Coast, some Caribbean islands including earthquake-damaged Haiti, and the island territory of Bermuda.

Tropical Storm Fred was located in the Gulf of Mexico and could make landfall by Monday evening along the Florida Panhandle, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. A tropical storm warning and a storm surge warning were in effect for coastal areas.

Fred had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph and was located 160 miles south of Panama City, Florida. It was traveling north at 9 mph. Forecasters said the system could slightly strengthen before landfall.

The main threats from Fred were rainfall – anywhere from 4 to 8 inches for Florida’s Big Bend and Panhandle – and storm surge. High water between 3 to 5 feet could enter the area between Indian Pass and the Steinhatchee River, depending on the tide at the time of Fred’s arrival.

Tropical Storm Fred, (upper left), tropical depression Grace (lower right) and tropical depression 8 (upper-right) as seen from space early on August 16, 2021. NOAA

Tropical depression Grace was dropping rain over Puerto Rico early Monday and forecast to move over Hispaniola later in the day. The hurricane center said forecasted rainfall between 5 inches and 10 inches could cause flooding and possible mudslides for Haiti and the Dominican Republic through Tuesday.

Haiti was already dealing with the effects of a 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck Saturday and was being blamed for nearly 1,300 deaths.

Grace was centered 160 miles east-southeast of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and moving west at 15 mph. Top winds were around 35 mph, with little change in strength forecast during the next few days.

Tropical depression eight formed late Sunday near Bermuda, and the hurricane center predicted it would become a tropical storm sometime Monday. A tropical storm watch is in effect for the island.

The system had maximum sustained winds around 35 mph. It was located about 110 miles east of Bermuda and expected to make a “slow clockwise turn toward the west” over the next few days, forecasters said in an advisory. The center of the depression was forecast to move southeast and south of the island territory.

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World View: Taliban Takeover, Increased Terror Threat, China’s Dubai Uyghur Jail, More

Aug 16, 2021

Alternate text

Here’s a selection of news stories from The Associated Press to start the week.

  • The U.S. military struggled to manage a chaotic evacuation from Afghanistan as the Taliban patrolled the capital and tried to project calm after toppling the Western-backed government.
  • The pace of the Taliban’s nearly complete takeover of Afghanistan has stunned President Joe Biden and other top U.S. officials.
  • Now America’s top general says the United States could face a rise in terrorist threats from a Taliban-run Afghanistan.
  • Meanwhile, a young Chinese woman says she was held for eight days at a Chinese-run secret detention facility in Dubai along with at least two Uyghurs, the only testimony known indicting that Beijing has set up a so-called “black site” in another country. 

Also,

  • As the death toll rises from the earthquake in Haiti, AP explains why the country is prone to devastating earthquakes
  • After the UN climate report, individuals seek to do their part
  • U.S. officials to declare first-ever water shortage from a river that serves 40 million people in the West

VANESSA GERA

Warsaw, Poland

The Associated Press

The Rundown

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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The U.S. military took over Afghanistan’s airspace on Monday as it struggled to manage a chaotic evacuation after the Taliban rolled into the capital, as the militants tried to project calm amid widespread fears of unrest….Read More

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The chop of U.S. military helicopters whisking American diplomats to Kabul’s airport punctuated a frantic rush by thousands of other foreigners and Afghans to flee to safety as well, as a stunningly swift Taliban takeover entered the heart of Afgh…Read More

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and other top U.S. officials were stunned on Sunday by the pace of the Taliban’s nearly complete takeover of Afghanistan, as the planned withdrawal of American forces urgently became a mission to ensure a safe …Read More

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A young Chinese woman says she was held for eight days at a Chinese-run secret detention facility in Dubai along with at least two Uyghurs, in what may be the first evidence that China is operating a so-called “black site” beyond its borders. …Read More

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WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s top general said the United States could now face a rise in terrorist threats from a Taliban-run Afghanistan. That warning comes as intelligence agencies charged with anticipating those threats face new questions after t…Read More

OTHER TOP STORIES

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials on Monday are expected to declare the first-ever water shortage from a river that serves 40 million people in the West, triggering cut…Read More

Earthquakes have been wreaking havoc in Haiti since at least the 18th century, when the city of Port-au-Prince was destroyed twice in 19 years. The 21st century has be…Read More

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani slipped out of his country Sunday in the same way he had led it in recent years — a lonely and isolated figure. Ghani quietly left the sp…Read More

HOBOKEN, Belgium (AP) — Young urban shepherd Lukas Janssens guides his flock among the graves in Schoonselhof, one of Belgium’s iconic cemeteries, knowing sheep are ki…Read More

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Main Cuban Oxygen Plant Fails Amid COVID-19 Surge

HAVANA, Aug 15 (Reuters) – Cuba’s public health minister said on Sunday efforts were underway to restart the country’s main oxygen factory which had broken down even as the death toll from COVID-19 on Saturday reached 98, equal to the pandemic record.

Minister Jose Angel Portal’s appearance on the state’s mid-day news broadcast came as a Delta-driven surge in coronavirus cases and deaths swamped some provincial health services.

Daily cases are averaging between 8,000 and 9,000 and fatalities at nearly 1% of cases, low by international standards but high for Cuba which last year had a death rate of 0.67%.

As of Saturday Cuba had reported 577,668 cases and 4,023 deaths.

The health crisis, on top of an economic one that saw the economy fall 10.9% last year, and an additional 2% through June compared with the same period last year, has resulted in a scarcity of consumer goods and frayed nerves in the Communist-run country. Last month tens of thousands took to the streets in protest, the most serious unrest since the early days of the 1959 Revolution.

Residents and some medical staff have taken to social media complaining of treatment in a land that prides itself for the quality of its free health system.

The country of 11.2 million residents has fully vaccinated three million with homegrown vaccines, with another two million expected to get a final shot before September.

Last week, official comments seemingly blaming health workers for collapsing health services provoked an unusual push back on social media with doctors blaming the government for a lack of supplies and poor management.

Portal took pains on Sunday to praise “the work of our health professionals on the front lines” while admitting there were shortages of some medicines used to treat COVID patients, 80% of which are produced locally.

Cuba’s Health Minister said a high-level commission was doing everything possible to make up for the oxygen shortage without indicating when the main plant would come back online.

Reporting by Marc Frank Editing by Chizu Nomiyama

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US-Mexico Border Migrant Detention Levels Reach 21-Year High

Reuters- The number of migrants detained at the US-Mexico border in July exceeded 200,000 for the first time in 21 years, government data shows.

A total of 212,672 migrants were apprehended by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), including an all-time high of 19,000 unaccompanied minors.

It continues a trend of rising migrant numbers this year, despite the White House urging people to stay away.

Experts say many migrants are fleeing violence and extreme poverty.

The July figure represents the highest monthly total since April 2000 – the latest sign of the growing humanitarian crisis facing the Biden administration.

Attempted migrant crossings have historically dipped during the hot summer months along the nearly 2,000-mile southern border.

But July’s numbers are a 13% increase from June, when over approximately 188,000 migrants were detained by US border control. In May, 180,000 migrants were stopped in attempted crossings.

On Thursday, US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas described the situation as “one of the toughest challenges” the country faces.

“It is complicated, changing and involves vulnerable people at a time of a global pandemic,” he said.

It is also proving politically troublesome for President Joe Biden. An AP-NORC poll in May found that 54% of Americans disapprove of how the Democrat is handling immigration issues.

In early August, the Biden administration announced that it would indefinitely extend a Trump-era pandemic policy that allows the US to swiftly expel undocumented migrants. Unaccompanied children and some families are exempt.

More than 45% of July’s total were processed for expulsion under this policy, known as Title 42.

Many, however, re-attempt the crossing.

CBP data shows that 27% of the migrants detained last month had at least one prior encounter with authorities in the past year. The remaining 154,288 were recorded as “unique individuals”. Between 2014 and 2019, the re-encounter rate stood at 14%.

US authorities have also begun controversial “expulsion flights” that fly Central American families to southern Mexico. Officials have said they hope that these families return to their home countries, rather than the US border.

But activists have warned that many families are dropped off in areas that put them at risk. Earlier this week, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees called the practice “a troubling new dimension” in Title 42 enforcement.

Mr Mayorkas said that the migrants are being taken to “where it’s far more difficult to try again.”

“We are working with Mexico to ensure for individuals subject to the expulsion flights [that] their needs are addressed.”

Tens of thousands of people from the Central American nations of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras have tried to enter the US in recent years.

The reasons migrants give for why they undertake the dangerous journey are varied: family, better economic opportunity, or the chance to escape violence and corruption.

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Analysis box by Will Grant, Mexico and Central America correspondent

At times it seems like the word “crisis” is applied to the situation on the US southern border almost every month. Certainly, it is important to distinguish between when it is real and the constant overuse of the word for political ends.

However, when the number of migrants reaching the border after the gruelling trip north is at its highest level in more than two decades and the figure for unaccompanied minors is at its highest ever recorded, then clearly something especially complex is happening.

For those attempting the journey, the motivations over the past 18 months of the coronavirus pandemic have become even more urgent. The lack of stable work in much of the region has become desperate as the ongoing pandemic batters the rural economies in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras month after month.

However, political conditions are also in play as well as economic ones. There has been a noticeable uptick in the number of migrants from Nicaragua amid its political crisis and the instability in Haiti following the assassination of its president last month has also played a role.

Aid agencies and migrant rights groups have urged the Biden administration to treat this as a humanitarian crisis rather than a security one. However, with no obvious end in sight to the poverty and sense of crisis prompting the migrants travel north, the high rate of apprehensions is likely to continue for some time.

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media captionRisking everything for an American dream

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Haiti Quake: U.N. Calls for ‘Humanitarian Corridor’ in Gang-Held Areas

By and

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Aug 15 (Reuters) – A “humanitarian corridor” through Haiti’s gang-infested areas should be established so aid can flow to the southern regions hit by a powerful earthquake on Saturday that killed more than 1,200 people, a U.N. official said on Sunday.

The United Nations and the Haitian government have struggled to send medical supplies and doctors by road to the town of Les Cayes, which bore the brunt of the damage, due to security concerns. Instead, they have been using boats and air transport.

A spike in kidnappings and gang violence has left some roads in Port-au-Prince dangerous to drive on, including the urban area of Martissant, home to the main thoroughfare linking the coastal capital with the southern regions.

Bruno Maes, the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) Representative in Haiti, said the U.N. was “calling for a humanitarian corridor in Haiti to allow quicker and safer transfer of goods and people”.

“We are really advocating for armed groups to allow this humanitarian aid to go to reach the people as soon as possible,” Maes told Reuters.

UNICEF has managed to send one container with medical supplies to southern Haiti but the agency and many other aid organizations need to dispatch much more help to Les Cayes and surrounding areas, Baes said.

Jery Chandler, head of Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency, said the authorities were working on providing access through Martissant but for the time being the government was sending most of the help by helicopters, planes and boats.

“Now we’re working on establishing a real open access road through Martissant,” Chandler said.

Reports on social media, including an interview with a purported gang leader, suggested the armed groups had called a truce and would let aid pass, though so far there has been no confirmation of this.

Writing by Drazen Jorgic; Editing by Stephen Coates

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Haiti Earthquake: Rescuers Search for Survivors, Death Toll Climbs to 1,297 as Storm Nears

Patients accompanied by their relatives are seen outside a hospital damaged following a 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Les Cayes,There are reports of hospitals being overwhelmed in the city of Les Cayes

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-latin-america-58216614

BBC- Officials in Haiti have confirmed at least 1,297 people are dead after a powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake hit the Caribbean nation on Saturday.

Rescuers are picking through rubble in a desperate search for any survivors.

Homes, churches and schools were among buildings flattened in the quake. Some hospitals were left overwhelmed and in need of supplies.

An unknown number of people are missing and about 5,700 have been injured, officials say.

The disaster compounds problems facing the impoverished nation, which is already reeling from a political crisis following the assassination of its president last month.

The south-west of Haiti appears to have suffered the worst of the damage, especially around the city of Les Cayes.

Footage on social media showed residents desperately trying to pull victims from ruined buildings.

“The streets are filled with screaming,” Archdeacon Abiade Lozama, head of an Anglican church in Les Cayes, told the New York Times. “People are searching, for loved ones or resources, medical help, water.”

The epicentre of Saturday’s quake was about 12km (7.5 miles) from the town of Saint-Louis du Sud, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.

But the tremor could be felt in the densely-populated capital of Port-au-Prince, some 125km away, and in neighbouring countries.

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Prime Minister Ariel Henry declared a month-long state of emergency and urged the population to “show solidarity”.

“The most important thing is to recover as many survivors as possible under the rubble,” he said on Saturday. “We have learned that the local hospitals, in particular that of Les Cayes, are overwhelmed with wounded, fractured people.”

The international community has promised to help.

US President Joe Biden said he had authorised an “immediate US response” through USAID. The UN also said it was supporting the rescue effort.

The neighbouring Dominican Republic has offered to send food and medical equipment, with Cuba also reportedly deploying more than 250 doctors.

Jerry Chandler, the head of the Haiti’s civil protection agency, said on Sunday that in the South department, where Les Cayes is situated, about 1,500 houses had been completely destroyed and 3,000 damaged.

“In Nippes [department], there are 899 houses destroyed and 723 houses damaged. In the Grande’Anse department, there are 469 houses destroyed and 1,687 houses damaged,” he added.

He warned that Tropical Storm Grace, which is approaching the country, is “likely to make matters worse” in the coming days.

The Pope offered prayers for the victims during a Sunday address and expressed hope that aid would arrive soon.

Aftershocks were felt after the initial tremor, with the USGS initially warning the earthquake could result in thousands of fatalities and injuries.

A 2010 earthquake in Haiti killed more than 200,000 people and caused extensive damage to the country’s infrastructure and economy.

People walk in a market as they go about their lives in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, May 24, 2021

Reuters

Haiti: Key facts

  • 11 million inhabitants
  • 59%percentage who live below the poverty line
  • 2004-2017years in which a UN peacekeeping force was present
  • 200,000number of people killed in the 2010 earthquake

Source: BBC Monitoring

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For Haitians, quake reawakens trauma of disaster a decade ago

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People look for survivors at a house destroyed following a 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Les Cayes, Haiti August 14, 2021. REUTERS/Ralph Tedy Erol

People look for survivors at a house destroyed following a 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Les Cayes, Haiti August 14, 2021. REUTERS/Ralph Tedy Erol

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Aug 15 (Reuters) – When Lydie Jean-Baptiste saw her neighbors running from their homes on Saturday and felt the ground begin to shake beneath her feet, the 62-year-old Haitian was flooded by terrifying memories of the earthquake a decade ago that devastated her hometown.

For many in the poor Caribbean nation, Saturday’s major quake – which killed more than 300 people and left hundreds injured – revived the trauma of the Jan. 12, 2010 temblor from which the country was still reeling. read more

“The neighbors, I saw them running and running. I said ‘What’s wrong?’ They said ‘Earthquake!’ and I rushed to the front door,” Jean-Baptiste said. “All of a sudden, I had all those images of January 12 coming to my mind and I felt really, really scared.”

Her neighborhood of Delmas, in the southern outskirts of Port-au-Prince, was tossed by Saturday’s quake, whose epicenter was some 150 km (90 miles) to the west of the capital.

But in 2010, the tremor struck much closer, leveling many of the houses in her neighborhood and across the capital.

Estimates of the number of dead from that tremor vary widely, from below 100,000 to as high as the government’s 316,000.

When the 2010 quake struck just before 5 pm, Jean-Baptiste was covered in debris in her office and had to walk home through the wreckage of familiar streets.

“People had their head cut off, corpses, everything. For 48 hours, I just felt like: Am I alive? Did I awake somewhere else?” Jean-Baptiste said, adding it took her nearly a year before she was able to sleep under her own roof without worrying it would collapse.

“The trauma is coming back. I am home and we are just wondering, are we sleeping inside? Are we going to sleep on the veranda?”

Her worries were echoed by Haitians across the south of the country, with some in the worst-affected areas saying they preferred to sleep outdoors than worry about the roof crashing down on them.

“There are aftershocks every now and then, so I will be sleeping outside,” said Yvon Pierre, 69, former mayor of Saint Louis du Sud, now living in Les Cayes.

“I am strong but this affected me psychologically and that is probably the same as the rest of the population.”

Saturday’s earthquake came from the same system of seismic faults as the massive tremor that convulsed Port-au-Prince in 2010, running east to west across the nation.

Haiti – the poorest nation in the Americas – still bears the scars of the 2010 quake, with its infrastructure and economy weakened.

Iconic buildings, including the Notre Dame l’Assomption cathedral, have not been rebuilt, while tens of thousands of people still live in provisional housing.

Efforts to rebuild have been hampered by a flawed international aid system, corruption and political turmoil, experts said. Just last month, President Jovenel Moise was assassinated at his home.

Fonie Pierre, director of Catholic Relief Services for Les Cayes, 49, said Saturday’s quake was so strong that she could not bring herself to move, and as she stood there in her home, she had flashbacks from 2010.

She had traveled from Les Cayes to the capital days after the tremor and seen corpses piled up on the side of the road.

“It brought back to my mind’s eye the dead bodies, the white dust of homes crumbling” said Pierre. “I thought: this is it, it’s the same thing.”

Haiti had been struck by calamity after calamity – and now also has to face Tropical Storm Grace, on track to blow through the nation early next week, she lamented.

“It’s as if the sky were falling in on us,” she said. “And you ask yourself: What have we done to deserve this?”

Reporting by Andre Paultre in Port-au-Prince, Kate Chappell in Kingston and Sarah Marsh in Havana; Writing by Daniel Flynn and Sarah Marsh; Editing by Christopher Cushing
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How the Delta Variant Took Over the US, World Stats

By Justine Coleman
The Hill

The delta variant has overtaken the U.S. in a matter of weeks as it spreads around the world in what President Biden’s chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci called a “global outbreak” of the strain.

The highly contagious variant of COVID-19 is considered at least two times more contagious than the previously dominant alpha strain, and experts say the increased transmissibility has likely fueled the surge in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths nationwide.

But much is still unknown about delta as scientists scramble to better understand the strain.

Here’s what we know about the delta strain and how it blunted earlier momentum in the fight against the coronavirus.


Delta is more transmissible than previous COVID-19 strains

Delta’s contagiousness is considered key to its domination, having spread to at least 117 countries after first being detected in India. Like other viruses, COVID-19 is evolving, particularly through unplanned mutations.

A study from the United Kingdom in May suggested the delta strain could be 60 percent more transmissible than the alpha variant, which was already more contagious than the original strain.

But experts are split on that figure, with some saying delta could be more transmissible and others saying it could be less.

“You don’t necessarily want to attribute that all to the virus. You know, a lot of it may reflect the people as well,” said David Dowdy, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Researchers aren’t certain about what makes the delta variant more transmissible, but there are some clues.

Michael Farzan, head of the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at Scripps Research, said one of the variant’s advantages is that it can more strongly attach to a certain receptor when spreading in the body.

“This is one of the reasons why the virus … in a person gets made at a higher level, meaning that there’s a lot more being spit out or coughed out, meaning that it’s more likely to hit the next person,” he said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has its own figures illustrating how the strain became so prevalent this summer. The agency’s latest projection is that 97.4 percent of all coronavirus cases come from all the different lineages of the delta variant, as of the week ending last weekend.

That marks an astronomical increase from the 1.6 percent estimated at the beginning of May and the 14.1 percent from the beginning of June.

Most people infected with COVID-19 at this point won’t know for sure whether they contracted the delta strain since available testing doesn’t make the distinction between strains — it only shows whether the virus itself is present.

It has a higher magnitude of viral loads

Health experts are examining the delta variant’s viral load, the measure of how much virus a person carries and can potentially transmit, compared to previous COVID-19 strains.

A study from China suggested that the strain’s viral load could be more than 1,000 times higher than the original strain, which Fauci on Thursday said “is a mechanistic reason why you have such a tremendous increase in transmissibility.”

Basically a higher viral load can make it more likely that an infected person can “shed” the virus, allowing someone nearby to contract it.

“If a little droplet that you sent out, it has more particles and that means it’s more likely to infect the next person over and it’s more likely to infect the next person over more times,” Farzan said.

Dowdy of Johns Hopkins cautioned that other variables, including people’s behavior, may be influencing how scientists understand delta’s viral load. With more people relaxing their COVID-19 precautions and interacting with others indoors, those same people could contract more of the virus than they might otherwise.

A study of a Massachusetts outbreak indicated that delta led to fully vaccinated people having a similar viral load compared to the unvaccinated, sparking the CDC to update its mask guidance late last month.

The outbreak on Cape Cod, where nearly three-quarters of confirmed cases were among fully vaccinated people, suggested that vaccinated people could potentially transmit and spread the delta variant. But researchers said at the time that microbiological studies would be needed to confirm whether vaccinated individuals can transmit the strain.

Vaccines are still effective against delta

Studies have found that at least five vaccines, including all three used in the U.S., are effective against the delta variant in lab and real-world settings, Fauci said on Thursday.

It was previously unclear whether the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which requires only one dose instead of two, was equally effective. But a study released last week found the immune response lasted at least eight months, resulting in the first real-world data for the vaccine, Fauci said.

Recent studies have indicated that vaccines may see a very slight dip in effectiveness against symptomatic versions of the coronavirus caused by the delta variant. The COVID-19 vaccines, like any other, are also not perfect at preventing all delta infection and illness.

But scientists agree that studies have demonstrated that the vaccinated population is less likely to get infected and much less likely to be hospitalized or die from the delta variant than the unvaccinated.

“The only reason our case numbers are lower now than they were back in December is because half of our population has been fully vaccinated,” Dowdy said.

Still more to learn

Experts acknowledge there is much more to learn about the delta variant.

“A big thing is we still don’t know how much of what we’re seeing is due to the virus versus due to behavior,” Dowdy said. “That makes a big difference because things that are due to the virus, we can’t really change as a society.”

Although there’s a growing number of studies, not all scientists are certain that the variant itself necessarily causes more serious illness among the unvaccinated, leading to more hospitalizations and deaths. It’s also unclear whether the strain is sparking more severe illness among children as pediatric hospital admissions have picked up.

Additionally, scientists have more analysis to do on under-researched mutations that may give the virus more of an advantage, Farzan said.

=================================================

WORLD STATS

Coronavirus Cases:

208,020,823

Deaths:

4,375,029

Recovered:

186,489,178
Highlighted in green
= all cases have recovered from the infection
Highlighted in grey
= all cases have had an outcome (there are no active cases)

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Latest News

August 16 (GMT)

Updates

  • 17,836 new cases and 8 new deaths in Japan [source]
  • 522 new cases and 8 new deaths in Ghana [source]
  • 9,295 new cases and 213 new deaths in Mexico [source]

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