Tag Archives: caribbean

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US: Nation’s Economic Woes Continue as Virus Rages

President Joe Biden’s administration released its strategy to combat the coronavirus pandemic yesterday. At the same time, he has to confront the worst economic disaster since 1929

More than 900,000 Americans filed initial unemployment claims last week, down by 26,000 from the previous week and 25,000 less than estimates.

Despite the slight week-over-week increase, the figure has not dipped below its pre-pandemic record of 695,000, set in 1982, since late March.Claims fell as low as 711,000 in early November before a winter surge in COVID-19 cases across the nation forced many states to reimpose various social distancing measures. Data also revealed an estimated 3 million people fell off the unemployment cliff when pandemic-related benefits lapsed in December as an economic stimulus package stalled in Congress.

Separately, a poll revealed nearly one-third of small-business owners surveyed said they were unable to pay January rent. The trend is the lagging part of what analysts call a K-shaped recovery, which occurs when different parts of the economy rebound at different rates. Conversely, the stock markets, driven largely by tech giants, all closed at or near record highs yesterday.

To launch a fight-back President Biden plans to sign two executive orders today that would increase food aid, protect jobseekers on unemployment and clear a path for federal workers and contractors to get a $15 minimum wage. The actions are an effort to rush financial relief to millions of Americans hurt by the fallout from the pandemic, while Congress begins to consider and debate the stimulus package proposed by Biden. You can follow all developments on that later here.

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Pres. Biden Orders Int. Air Travelers to Quarantine on Arrival in US

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order on Thursday that would require international air travelers to quarantine upon U.S. arrival, and directed U.S. agencies to implement a federal mask mandate in interstate transportation.

Biden’s order says “to the extent feasible” air travelers must comply with applicable U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines concerning international travel “including recommended periods of self-quarantine.” It does not explain how it will be enforced.

The order also directs U.S. agencies to hold talks with Canada and Mexico “regarding public health protocols for land ports of entry” including implementing CDC guidelines. Nearly all non-essential travel at U.S. land borders with Canada and Mexico is suspended through Feb. 21.

The CDC recommends a seven-day quarantine for people arriving in the Unites States from nearly all countries.

The order calls on agencies to “immediately take action” to require masks on or in airports, commercial aircraft, trains, public maritime vessels, including ferries, intercity bus services and all public transportation, but grants them the ability to issue exemptions.

Biden is directing agencies to reconsider international contact tracing requirements for U.S.-bound passengers, which was abandoned by the Trump White House, as well as the possibility of follow-up COVID-19 testing for travelers after they arrive in the United States.

The Biden administration is implementing new coronavirus testing requirements for nearly all international air passengers beginning on Tuesday, following a CDC order last week. Under the new rules, all U.S.-bound passengers age 2 and over must get negative COVID-19 test results within three calendar days of travel.

The Biden administration announced it would reimpose entry bans on most non-U.S. citizens who have recently been in Brazil, the United Kingdom, Ireland and most of continental Europe after President Donald Trump issued an order on Monday lifting them effective the same day the new testing rules take effect.

Biden also wants new public health measures at U.S. sea ports. In October, the CDC let a no-sail order expire for cruise ships. A U.S. House committee said the White House had blocked the CDC from extending the pandemic-related no-sail order through mid-February.

Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese and Bill Berkrot

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Jamaica’s COVAX Facility Will Begin Corona Vaccinations April 21

Jamaica’s health and wellness minister, Dr. Christopher Tufton announced that Jamaicans will begin getting vaccines from the COVAX Facility on April 21.

Dr Tufton made the announcement on Tuesday in parliament where he also tabled what he called the COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment and Vaccination Interim Plan. This plan details the national strategy for the deployment of COVID-19 vaccines in Jamaica.

According to Tufton, healthcare workers, members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, members of the Jamaica Defense Force, correctional officers, custom immigration officers, parliamentarians, persons in infirmaries and the elderly are at the top of the list to receive the jabs first.

The vaccine is to be administered in two doses, which will be given weeks apart.

Vaccination sites will be set up at the University Hospital of the West Indies, Bustamante Hospital for Children, National Chest Hospital, Spanish Town Hospital, Mandeville Regional Hospital, Cornwall Regional Hospital and St Ann’s Bay Regional Hospital for frontline staff.

Some health centers are also being contemplated to be used as vaccination sites.

Dr. Tufton also detailed the phased rollout plan for vaccination. Phase one is expected to be completed this year. Other members of the population are expected to vaccinated in 2022 and beyond. The minister noted that the COVID-19 vaccine could become part of the island’s routine immunization efforts.

While the government hopes that the deployment of the vaccination will go smoothly, Tufton noted that convincing Jamaicans to get the shot will not be an easy task.

He announced that the ministry of health plans to embark on an education campaign to quell the vaccine fears of Jamaicans. Tufton noted that “vaccine acceptance” is an important part of the rollout program.

Tufton told parliament that the government will get nearly 300,000 of the vaccines from the first batch which is enough for five percent of the population.

Jamaica is scheduled to receive additional doses of vaccines on July 21 and December 21.

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Peru: Medics on Hunger Strike Over COVID Funding as Cases Soar

(CNN) Some Peruvian medics are going on hunger strike to demand more funding as cases of Covid-19 spiral in the country, according to a statement from Peru’s Social Security National Medical Union (SINAMMSOP) published Wednesday.

The health workers began their hunger strike Tuesday in front of Peru’s Ministry of Labor in capital city Lima. About a dozen medics from the national social security union have been taking part in protests there as the health system struggles to cope with a second wave of Covid-19.
“We have begun a hunger strike,” said Teodoro Quinones, a doctor taking part in the protest, according to Reuters.
Quinones said the strike would last until Peru’s Labor Minister removes the head of the country’s Health Social Security, Fiorella Molinelli, who oversees government efforts to set up temporary health and isolation centers for Covid-19 patients.
As of Thursday, Molinelli, has not commented on the union’s demands.
The protesters have been sharply critical of the government’s approach to the pandemic, and are asking for increased investment in the health sector.
“Our ICUs are collapsing and we are not receiving any response and we are seeing the indifference of a government that assigns us the budget,” Peruvian nurse Ketty Solier told Reuters Tuesday.
“We urgently need to acquire this equipment to prevent more Peruvians from dying. The Peruvian state has a constitutional obligation to guarantee the accessibility of health services and right now they are denying access to hospitals because we no longer have the capacity to provide patients with what they need so much,” she added.

Police stand guard outside the Ministry of Health as health workers protest in Peru on January 13.

Police stand guard outside the Ministry of Health as health workers protest in Peru on January 13.
“People are infected, there are no ICU beds, soon there will be no more hospitalization. Again we are going to see people dying in the streets. About the vaccine, we have no hope for the vaccine, we do not know when it will arrive,” Ronald Castañeda, a relative of a Covid-19 patient, told Reuters.
ICU occupancy rates are at 90% in some parts of Peru, according to Pan American Health Organization Director Carissa Etienne, who described struggling health systems throughout Latin America at a virtual press conference on Tuesday.
The hunger strike is just one of many protests by Peru’s medics and health workers in recent days, as a second wave of Covid-19 engulfs the population. The country has recorded more than one million total cases and more than 39,000 Covid-19 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University (JHU.)

Peru's interim president resigns after just five days

Peru’s interim president resigns after just five days
“We are starting on a second wave [of Covid-19 cases]. This wave is rising. I can tell you that we’ve made some calculations and we are more or less right were we were in mid-April, and the figures keep ascending,” Health Minister Pilar Mazzetti told local media Monday.
On Tuesday, Peru’s interim President Francisco Sagasti approved a decree to finance the set-up of more than 16 temporary isolation centers across the country and to hire additional staff to expand health services, according to a Tuesday press note from the Ministry of Health.
Sagasti became president in November 2020, becoming the third president to be sworn in in just over a week as the country struggled with political turmoil amid the pandemic.

CNN’s Tatiana Arias reported from Atlanta, Zamira Rahim wrote from London

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PAHO Director Urges Strict Govt. Pandemic Health Controls

 

The director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Dr Carissa F Etienne has urged the Region of the Americas, including the Caribbean, to immediately intensify public health interventions on social distancing, limiting gatherings, wearing masks and hand washing to limit exposure to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our region, and our world, is failing to control coronavirus,” the Dominican-born director said.

“In far too many places public policies are not congruent with the severity of the situation. And many of us have relaxed the control measures that we know work, which have helped us stay healthy and keep hospitals functional up to now.”

Dr Etienne said she was “particularly concerned for the next few weeks,” stating that, throughout the region, especially in North and South America, many hospitals are operating at or very close to capacity.

She cited high occupancy rates of intensive care units, oxygen shortages in some areas and lack of capacity to cope with the speed of new infections due to the “sustained boom in cases.”

“In the last week we saw more than 2.5 million new cases of COVID-19 in the region of the Americas – more than half of all global infections,” Dr Etienne said. “In the same period, 42,000 people from the Americas have lost their lives to the pandemic.

“We must intensify public health interventions to limit exposure to this virus. Social distancing, limiting gatherings and the consistent use of masks in public settings and frequent hand washing are our absolute best hope for reducing the number of COVID-19 infections right now,” she stressed.

Etienne said vaccines for COVID-19 will help save lives and “eventually halt the pandemic,” but, she added: “We are also aware that there aren’t yet enough doses to achieve a visible impact on transmission at this point in the short term.

Dr Etienne said PAHO is working to help countries prepare to vaccinate their populations and is supporting the COVAX mechanism to make vaccines available in all countries in the Americas.

The PAHO Revolving Fund “will play a key role in this process,” helping the countries acquire vaccines, syringes, cold chain equipment and other supplies for vaccine delivery, Dr Etienne said.

She said national vaccine deployment plans have been prepared by 18 countries, and 23 countries have completed a Vaccine Readiness Assessment.

“For PAHO, a successful vaccine introduction must not simply be measured by its timeline but through the lens of fairness . We must not let vaccination campaigns fracture along the lines of inequity that have marked the health of our region.

She added: “Vaccine rollouts should prioritise those at risk – like the health workers at the frontlines of our response, the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions. They should also prioritise disenfranchised populations that often struggle to access the care they need.”

 

 

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US Inauguration: The Mass Protests that Never Happened

Forbes– Preparing for the worst after this month’s deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol, states across the country which had been warned of potential violence outside their capitol buildings on Inauguration Day saw little—if any—protest activity on Wednesday.

In the end, the 25,000 troops moved into Washington DC to confront possible trouble, had little to do except direct traffic and check press passes.

KEY FACTS

At least 10 states activated National Guard troops to protect their Capitol buildings after the FBI warned of plans for “armed protests” at all 50 state capitols and in Washington, D.C.

However, large groups of protesters and militias were nowhere to be seen in D.C., where the downtown area was mostly locked down and swarmed with thousands of National Guardsmen, as President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were sworn in.

Meanwhile, the states that had activated the National Guard—including California, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Washington and Kentucky—witnessed just handfuls of pro-Trump protesters.

Local reporters at Capitol buildings in at least five other states similarly struggled to find more than a couple of protesters.

“I’m outside the Texas Capitol building in downtown Austin,” wrote Austin American-Statesman reporter Kelsey Bradshaw on Twitter, “I’m counting more journalists than Trump or Biden supporters out here.”

CRUCIAL QUOTE

“We have one lone demonstrator at the Montana State Capitol so far,” Thom Bridge, the multimedia editor for the Helena Independent Record, wrote on Twitter around midday. “He’s the only one who has showed up all day,” Bridge later told Forbes.

KEY BACKGROUND

Statehouses across the country saw a similar lack of activity over the weekend, though there appeared to be a greater show of armed protesters than there has been so far on Inauguration Day. Online, supporters of President Trump who subscribe to the bizarre QAnon conspiracy theory appeared defeated and desperate as their belief that Trump would finally bring down the “deep state” and its cannibalistic child sex trafficking ring never came to fruition.

 

 

 

 

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Cricket: Bangladesh Bowls Out West Indies for 148

Alzarri Joseph (L) takes a run as Mehidy Hasan throws the ball during the second one-day international cricket match between Bangladesh and West Indies on Friday

 

Off-spinner Mehidy Hasan claimed a career best four wickets for 25 as Bangladesh bowled out the West Indies for 148 in their second one-day international on Friday.

The hosts, who won Wednesday’s opening match by six wickets, took early wickets before Rovman Powell hit 41 off 65 balls to boost the West Indies innings.

Debutant opener Kjorn Ottley (24) and Nkrumah Bonner (20) were other notable scorers for West Indies.

After West Indies skipper Jason Mohammed chose to bat, left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman claimed the first breakthrough by removing Sunil Ambris for six hitting a catch to Mehidy.

West Indies kept losing more wickets after Bangladesh introduced spin.

Mehidy removed Ottley and Joshua Da Silva (5) in the same over while Shakib Al Hasan bowled Andre McCarthy for only three.

Kyle Mayers, the highest scorer in the previous match, was run out for zero before Shakib trapped skipper Mohammed leg-before for 11 to leave the West Indies struggling at 67-6.

Powell and Alzarri Joseph put on 32 for the ninth wicket to help West Indies past 100 runs.

Mustafizur, who gave away just two runs in his opening four overs, returned to end West Indies’ resistance by removing Joseph for 17.

Mehidy stumped Powell to wrap-up the innings in 43.4 overs.

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5 Dead in Fire at World’s Biggest Vaccine Plant

New Delhi, India (CNN) A fire that broke out at a facility of the world’s biggest vaccine maker that killed five people would not affect vaccine production, the head of the company said Thursday.

The blaze at the Serum Institute of India (SII) in the western city of Pune was brought under control on Thursday though the cause is still under investigation, according to Murlidhar Mohol, the city’s mayor.

Four people were rescued from the six-floor building but five others died, Mohol said. They are believed to have been construction workers as the building was still under construction at the time of the fire.

Videos and images showed black smoke billowing out of the building at the company’s complex. Fifteen units of the municipal corporation and fire department worked to douse the fire, Mohol said.

Preliminary investigations suggest that “during the building’s construction, some welding work could have led to the fire,” he added.

Pune’s fire brigade chief Prashant Ranpise said Friday that the fire started on the second floor. As firefighters worked to put out the flames, the blaze reigned in another spot. The second fire was extinguished at 4:15 p.m. local time by 50 firefighters and personnel. Ranpise said they are still investigating the cause of the fire.

“We have learnt that there has unfortunately been some loss of life at the incident. We are deeply saddened and offer our deepest condolences to the family members of the departed,” SII CEO Adar Poonawalla tweeted Thursday.

SII, the world’s biggest vaccine maker, is in partnership with Oxford University and AstraZeneca to produce the Covishield vaccine. In December, the company said it was producing 50 to 60 million doses of Covishield per month, with production to be scaled up to 100 million doses in January or February.

A family business started by Poonawalla’s father 50 years ago to bring cheaper vaccines to the masses, the Serum Institute of India is aiming to produce hundreds of millions of coronavirus vaccines for not only India, but also other developing countries.

In a tweet, Poonawalla said that despite a “few floors being destroyed,” production of the Covishield vaccine would not be affected.

“I would like to reassure all governments and the public that there would be no loss of COVISHIELD production due to multiple production buildings that I had kept in reserve to deal with such contingencies,” he said.

Cyrus S. Poonawalla, SII’s chairman and managing director, said in a statement that the fire broke out at a facility that was under constriction in the Special Economic Zone at Manjri. He said it was an “extremely sorrowful day” and the company would offer INR 2.5 million ($34,000) to each of the victims’ families.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted his condolences Thursday: “Anguished by the loss of lives due to an unfortunate fire … In this sad hour, my thoughts are with the families of those who lost their lives. I pray that those injured recover at the earliest.”

 

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James Bond Film Now Delayed Until October

The much-anticipated James Bond flick had already been pushed back twice due to the coronavirus pandemic, with Daniel Craig’s final jaunt as the suave spy first slated for release in April 2020, before being moved to November 2020, and then again to April 2021.

And now it has been confirmed that the motion picture won’t hit screens until October 8, 2021.

A new poster for the film was shared to the official Twitter page for the movie and is captioned: “NO TIME TO DIE 8 October 2021.”

‘No Time To Die’ was one of the first blockbusters to delay its release when the pandemic first hit back in March.

Meanwhile, the film’s director, Cary Joji Fukunaga, previously explained how he won’t be able to move on from the project until it is seen by an audience.

The 43-year-old filmmaker said: “I have never been able to predict how people react to something I’ve made … It could fly or completely fall. It doesn’t change how I view the film. God, I have no idea whether people have an appetite for that or not right now.

“It doesn’t feel like the film’s journey is complete until it’s been shared. Until then, it’s a secret … I’ve never seen it with an audience. I would love to watch it with an audience the first opportunity I get … And that will probably be the next time and last time I see it.”

However, he added that delaying the movie means little in the grand scheme of things.

He said: “I look at it unemotionally right now … There are so many bigger things happening. I have friends who are losing businesses, restaurants, and other friends who have lost family members.

“The film will come out when it’s right, and it will perform in the context of this new world, in which no one really can define what success or failure means.”

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