A devoted grandmother, a beloved teacher, the sister of Paraguay’s first lady and a mother whose now distraught daughter couldn’t take her call, all are among scores unaccounted for in the Miami building collapse.
Dozens are from the large Jewish community, a similar number named by Latin American consulates.
Anxious posts go up on social media as fearful relatives and friends struggle for information, but also refuse to give up hope.
The 12-storey residential building partially collapsed early on Thursday morning. So far only five people have been confirmed dead, and four of them have been named.
This is what we know about some of the missing:
Mother of survivor is first victim to be named
The first victim to be named was Stacie Fang, 54, whose 15-year-old son Jonah Handler was rescued from the rubble hours after the collapse.
According to US media, Ms Fang was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at Aventura Hospital and Medical Center on Thursday. Her funeral is due to take place on Sunday in New Jersey, NBC6 reported.
In a statement, her family expressed thanks for the outpouring of sympathy and support they had received.
“There are no words to describe the tragic loss of our beloved Stacie,” it said.
An elderly couple who didn’t want to die apart
Antonio Lozano, 83, and his wife Gladys, 79, lived on the ninth floor. They were confirmed dead after officials took a DNA sample from their son, Sergio Lozano, and matched it to their bodies.
Sergio Lozano told local media that his parents had known each other for more than 60 years, and would have celebrated their 59th anniversary on 21 July.
They used to joke that neither wanted the other one to die first, because they didn’t want to be apart from each other.
He said he took some comfort in the knowledge that they “went together and went quickly”.
A father who loved baseball with his son
Manuel LaFont, 54, lived on the eighth floor of the building and has also been confirmed dead.
Mr LaFont’s two children, a 10-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl, had been spending time with him that day, but were picked up by their mother – Mr LaFont’s ex-wife – just hours before the collapse.
Danny Berry, director of the Miami Beach Youth Baseball League, told the paper that “they were out there [playing baseball] until the lights went out”.
A British-American mother and her family
The whereabouts of Bhavna Patel, a 38-year-old British and US citizen, are unknown. She has been reported missing along with her husband, Vishal Patel, 42, and their one-year-old daughter, Aishani.
In a tweet a relative, Sarina Patel, confirmed her family members were yet to be found. Bhavna is pregnant, the tweet says.
image copyrightUmma Kannayan
image caption Vishal Patel (left), Bhavna Patel (right) and Aishani (centre) are all reported missing
Umma Kannayan is a family friend of the Patels. She told the BBC’s Will Grant that they were a “very loving” family who were closely involved in their religious community.
“Aishani was like the little baby of the temple,” she said. “It feels like you’ve lost a part of yourself.”
She said she was waiting with the Patel family’s relatives for news, but that “not much information has been shared” about the victims.
“I think all of us, the family included, and the folks that are very closely associated with them [at temple] would want to know the list of survivors currently present,” she said. “Perhaps from there some hope either might be given or might be shattered, but some names out there would be very helpful for all.”
Nicolette Brent, the UK’s consul-general in Miami, visited the family reunification centre in Surfside on Thursday night. She said her team was “ready to help any British nationals who may have been involved in this tragic incident”.
Members of the Jewish community
There are concerns for many members of the large Jewish community in the area.
Rabbi Sholom Lipskar of The Shul of Bal Harbour in Surfside said several members of his congregation were missing.
“This is something that transcends our capacity for understanding,” he told US broadcaster CNN. “We accept it and we have to learn, as we do in our culture, resilience and to move forward because challenges don’t hold us back.”
The rabbi named Nancy Kress Levin, Jay Kleinman, Frankie Kleinman, Arie Leib, Yisroel Tzvi Yosef and Tzvi Doniel as missing.
Brad Cohen, 51, was in the building with his brother-in-law at the time of the collapse.
“The hardest thing has been seeing the devastation of my 12-year-old daughter, she is very close to her father,” Brad’s wife, Soraya Cohen, told the BBC.
Given the area has a large Jewish community, the tragedy has drawn the attention of Israeli aid groups and government authorities, including the country’s consulate in Miami.
The consulate said the Israeli government had offered search-and-rescue help or other aid to local authorities, but had yet to receive an answer.
Family of Paraguay’s first lady
In a statement, Paraguay’s foreign ministry said six Paraguayan nationals had been registered as missing.
Among them was Sophia López Moreira, the sister of Paraguay’s first lady, Silvana López Moreira.
Sophia lives with her husband, Luis Pettengill, and their three children in the building.
Foreign Minister Euclides Acevedo told local media that President Mario Abdo Benítez had expressed concern for the safety of his relatives.
“Our consul and his team are making the rounds at hospitals in Miami,” Mr Acevedo said.
The sixth missing Paraguayan was named as Lady Luna Villalba by the ministry.
Latin Americans
The Paraguayans are among at least 26 Latin American nationals reported missing by their consulates.
That includes two Chileans, three Uruguayans, six Venezuelans and nine Argentines, but the number could be higher.
Three of the Argentines were identified as Andrés Galfrascoli, 45, his partner Fabián Nuñez, 55, and their daughter, Sofía Galfrascoli Núñez, six, by a local newspaper. The paper says Mr Galfrascoli is a plastic surgeon, while Mr Nuñez is a singer and theatre director.
The two missing Chileans have been named as Claudio Bonnefoy, 85, and his wife María Obias-Bonnefoy. In a tweet their nephew said the couple had lived on the 10th floor of the collapsed building.
They lived in an apartment on the side of the building that collapsed, the couple’s daughter, Pascale Bonnefoy, told the New York Times, a newspaper she writes for.
‘I’ll call her tomorrow’
Magaly Ramsey received a call from her mother, Magaly Delgado, the night before the building’s collapse.
“My mother called me at around 10 o’clock on Wednesday night, but I was at a conference and I couldn’t answer her,” Ms Ramsey told the BBC.
I’ll call her tomorrow, she thought. Since then, however, she has not heard from her mother, an 80-year-old of Cuban origin.
“The most difficult thing is not having information,” Ms Ramsey said.
A beloved PE teacher and his wife
The disappearance of one Jewish couple prompted an emotional reaction on social media.
Several people have queried the whereabouts of Myriam Caspi Notkin and Arnie Notkin, an elderly couple who lived on the third floor of the collapsed building.
Ms Smukler said Mr Notkin taught physical education (PE) at a local primary school in South Beach for years, implanting him in the memories of many students.
“He was such a well-liked PE teacher from people’s past,” she said. “Everyone’s been posting, ‘Oh my god, he was my coach’.”
“It would be a miracle if they’re found alive.”
A devoted grandmother
Kevin Spiegel was on a business trip in California when he received a message about the building’s collapse. He and his wife Judy, 66, had an apartment on the sixth floor of the building for more than four years.
Judy’s daughter, Rachel Spiegel, was last in contact with her mother on Wednesday night, the New York Times reported.
The newspaper said Judy had texted her to say that she had finally found the Disney dress one of her granddaughters, four-year-old Scarlett, had asked for as a gift.
A devoted grandmother, Judy had been helping with picking up the children from school, her daughter said.
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison on Friday afternoon for the murder of George Floyd last May.
Handed down by Hennepin County District Court Judge Peter Cahill, the sentence was greater than what legal experts predicted.
“Determining the appropriate sentence in any case and in this case is a legal analysis. It’s applying the rule of law to the facts of an individual and specific case,” Cahill said from the Hennepin County courthouse just after 2:30 p.m. “This sentence is not based on emotion or sympathy. At the same time I want to acknowledge the deep and tremendous pain that all the families are feeling, especially the Floyd family.”
The increased sentence comes after the judge in May agreed with prosecutors that there were aggravating factors when Chauvin fatally knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes that warranted a departure from the presumptive sentence length.
Cahill, in his earlier ruling, concluded that Chauvin abused his “position of trust and authority” as a police officer and displayed “particular cruelty” when he knelt on Floyd’s neck during his arrest, an action that rendered Floyd unresponsive.
Floyd was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
On April 20, Chauvin was convicted of second-degree murder and manslaughter as well as third-degree murder.
Since the criminal counts stemmed from one action — Chauvin killing Floyd — the sentence is based on only the second-degree murder conviction, the most serious of the crimes for which he was found guilty.
Per state guidelines, the maximum sentence for unintentional murder in the second degree is 40 years, but because Chauvin has no previous criminal record, the presumptive sentence was 12 1/2 years, with an acceptable deviation range of 10 years, 9 months, to 15 years.
But because Cahill agreed with the prosecution’s aggravating factors motion, the judge had the discretion to increase the sentence.
The common prediction among legal experts was that Cahill would decide on a 30-year sentence, double the high end of the presumptive sentence and it was what the head prosecutor, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D), requested in a motion at the beginning of the month.
Members of Floyd’s family were present in the courtroom for the sentencing.
Floyd’s murder was the catalyst for nationwide protests decrying police brutality and systemic racism last summer.
His death also spurred the creation of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a sweeping police reform bill that Congress has been working to reach a bipartisan consensus on for months.
Chauvin declined to give a formal statement in court due to “additional legal matters,” but expressed his condolences to the Floyd family.
He also said that there would be “some other information in the future that would be of interest.”
Colombia has offered a reward of three billion pesos ($796,000; £573,000) for information about an attack on the president’s helicopter.
Iván Duque was nearing Cúcuta airport near the border with Venezuela when his aircraft was hit by gunfire on Friday.
Photos released later showed bullet holes in the rotor and tail of the helicopter.
Nobody on board was injured. The UN, EU and US have all condemned the attack.
Defence Minister Diego Molano – who was also on board the aircraft – offered the reward for any information leading to the culprits on Saturday.
National police meanwhile announced that they had found two rifles in a Cúcuta neighbourhood – an AK-47, and a 7.62 calibre rifle. which they say were used in the attack.
The 7.62 calibre rifle had “the marks of the Armed Forces of Venezuela”, national police chief General Jorge Vargas.
“We are after those responsible. We will not give up until we capture them,” he tweeted.
image copyrightPresidency of Colombia/Reuters
Photos released by the Colombian government show bullet holes in the aircraft
It is not yet known who carried out the attack.
Before the shooting Mr Duque had been attending an event in the Catatumbo region. The area spans the Colombian-Venezuelan border and is one of the main regions in the country for growing coca, the key ingredient in the drug cocaine.
Colombia has accused Venezuela of harbouring rebel fighters in the past, a claim the country denies. The nations broke off diplomatic relations after Mr Duque came to power in 2018.
The leftist National Liberation Army (ELN), Colombia’s largest rebel group, operates in the Catatumbo region.
Earlier this month the ELN denied any involvement in a car bomb attack on a military base in Cúcuta. The attack injured 36 people, including two US military advisers.
Rescue workers say they are searching “every bit of hope” as the hunt for survivors under the rubble of a collapsed Florida apartment block continues into a fifth day.
More than 150 people are still missing, with nine people confirmed to have died in Thursday’s early morning disaster.
Just four of the victims have been identified so far.
The cause of the collapse in Surfside, north of Miami, remains unclear.
An engineer’s report from 2018, which was made public on Saturday, highlighted “a major error” in the original design of the 12-storey seafront Champlain Towers. It said the fault prevented water draining away from the base of the building.
On Sunday, officials were keen to stress they were still hoping to find survivors. Teams have been working solidly since the building collapsed, and have now been joined by rescue workers from Israel and Mexico.
However, the initial efforts were slowed by a fire in the debris, which is thought to have been brought under control. Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett previously described how the building had “pancaked”, with spaces that were 10ft or more reduced to “just feet”.
A 125ft (38m) trench, which is 40ft deep, has now been dug to assist in the search for any pockets where people may have survived.
Miami-Dade Fire Chief Alan Cominsky acknowledged they were still facing an “extremely difficult situation” but were not prepared to give up.
“Our rescue teams are non-stop, doing all that we can, searching every area, every bit of hope to see if we can find a live victim,” he told reporters.
Who are the victims?
Four victims have been named by officials so far: Gladys Lozano, 79, and her husband Antonio, 83; Stacie Fang, 54; and Manuel LaFont, also 54.
Ms Fang’s son, 15, was pulled alive from the rubble.
The remains of the other five people pulled from the debris are undergoing DNA tests to establish their identities.
What happened to the building?
The building contained 136 apartments and 55 of them collapsed early on Thursday, leaving piles of debris.
Resident Barry Cohen was in bed in a section of the building that survived when the collapse happened. “It sounded like thunder, and my wife and I, we went out on the balcony; it looked like a bomb had exploded,” he told the BBC.
“When we opened the door, there was no building there, it was just a pile of rubble,” he said.
Eyewitnesses described hearing what sounded like thunder before seeing a huge cloud of dust in the aftermath of the collapse.
A full investigation into the collapse is set to begin after the rescue mission.
As the building has stood since 1980, it was due its standard 40-year review. It was undergoing its “recertification” process and required repairs, officials said.
The 2018 engineer’s report into the building flagged “major structural damage” to the concrete platform beneath the swimming pool deck. It also referred to “abundant cracking… of columns, beams and walls” in the garage.
The report didn’t suggest the 40-year-old building was at any imminent risk of collapse but its author, engineer Frank Morabito, urged that the concrete repairs be carried out in “a timely fashion”.
Meanwhile, a study from researchers at Florida International University published last year found that the building had been sinking at a rate of two millimetres per year in the 1990s, which may have affected the building structurally.
But the author has cautioned that the study was just a snapshot in time. The building was constructed on reclaimed wetland, which experts say is always of concern as the land underneath can compact over time, leading to shifts.
On the sinking, the author of the study, Prof Shimon Wdowinski, told the Miami Herald newspaper: “We’ve seen much higher than that, but it stood out because most of the area was stable and showed no subsidence.”
Prof Wdowinski said the research was not meant to suggest certainty about the latest incident.
The situation remains most concerning in Sydney, where some five million residents are subject to a stay-at-home order.
The New South Wales (NSW) state government on Sunday expanded a lockdown to cover all of Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Central Coast and Wollongong.
image copyrightGetty Images
image captionSydney residents queued to get tested at this drive-through clinic at Bondi Beach
Many businesses and venues have been ordered shut.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Monday reported 18 new cases, down from the 30 reported the previous day. Nearly 59,000 people had been tested in the past 24 hours.
“We have to be prepared for the numbers to bounce around and we have to be prepared for the numbers to go up considerably because with this strain, we are seeing almost 100% of transmission within households,” she said.
Just a week ago Sydney was still in near Covid-free bliss – with people packed into restaurants and dancing in clubs in the city.
But the swift spread of Delta has upended months of the city, and the country’s ” new normal”. The strain is now linked to three of four clusters affecting Australia.
Experts say the nation’s defences have been beaten, multiple times, by the powerful variant. It’s breached hotel quarantine several times raising concerns about air transmission.
It’s also managed to break through relaxed distancing rules in society, latching onto unprotected workers. Mask-wearing is now back in almost every state in Australia.
In Sydney, officials say the virus is infecting 100% of household contacts when it’s brought into a home. It’s too early to tell if this lockdown will contain it, according to experts.
Low vaccination rates have also left Australians vulnerable.
One expert told me it’s a “perfect storm” for “what is now easily the most dominant variant in the world”.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard has described the Delta variant which was first detected in India as a “very formidable foe”.
“No matter what defensive steps we’re taking at the moment, the virus seems to understand how to counter-attack,” he said.
Rapid spread
While the two cases in Western Australia have been traced to the Sydney outbreak, the positive cases in Queensland and the Northern Territory have been linked to people who became infected despite completing hotel quarantine.
The remote Northern Territory has recorded seven cases, prompting authorities to extend a lockdown of the capital, Darwin on Monday until Friday.
The Delta outbreak there had spread from a mining camp and now posed significant risk to the community, officials said.
“For the first time, we do have public exposure sites in the Northern Territory,” said Chief Minister Michael Gunner.
Authorities are also on alert after a member of cabin crew staff for Virgin Australia worked on five domestic flights while infected with the Delta variant. The airline has contacted all affected passengers and crew.
Travel bubble suspended
The outbreaks have prompted some inter-state and international border closures.
New Zealand paused its quarantine-free travel bubble with all of Australia until at least Tuesday because of the latest outbreak.
The travel corridor between the two neighbours was opened in April. Travel between New Zealand and specific Australian regions has been closed for short periods as outbreaks emerged, but this is the first time the bubble has been shut with all of Australia.
image copyrightEPA
image captionSydney – Australia’s largest city – is in lockdown until 9 July
Australia has maintained very low rates of Covid transmission throughout the pandemic due to a closed-border policy, stringent quarantine and swift testing and tracing systems.
It has recorded no deaths this year, but 910 deaths and 30,450 cases overall.
The newer, more infectious Covid variants however, have strained the nation’s defences – with several small outbreaks this year.
Sydney’s outbreak first emerged two weeks ago in Bondi, the famous beach suburb, before spreading rapidly across the city.
Its origin has been linked to an unvaccinated driver who transported international arrivals from the airport.
Vaccination rollout
The NSW government has urged people to get their vaccine – noting that in one of the Sydney clusters, 24 of 30 people at a party became infected and those who didn’t had been vaccinated.
“If you’re vaccinated, you are much more likely to not be infected with Covid-19,” Mr Hazzard told reporters on Monday.
The recent outbreaks have renewed criticism of the nation’s slow vaccination rollout – which falls under the federal government’s purview.
So far, just under 5% of Australia’s adult population have been fully vaccinated under a phased rollout, and roughly 30% have received a first dose of either the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine.
However, significant levels of hesitancy have been recorded around the AstraZeneca vaccine due to its link to a rare blood clotting syndrome. Meanwhile, Pfizer supplies have been limited to certain age groups.
Government critics have argued that cities would not need to endure lockdowns if a majority of the population was vaccinated.
Health experts are calling on the Biden administration to do more to encourage and promote the use of vaccine mandates and passports.
So far, the White House has stayed out of what they view as an issue for private employers.
The Biden administration has repeatedly said vaccine passports won’t be implemented at the federal level but has not discouraged individual companies from making the personal choice of implementing one.
Officials have also shied away from using mandates among federal employees or among military forces.
“If a company, a business wants to take steps to keep their workers and their passengers safe, I would think that, from a government perspective, we want to do everything we can to encourage that,” Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said recently.
There is no way to tell who is vaccinated and who is not without asking for proof, but the federal government has not given any kind of guidance or support to businesses that want to require proof of vaccination for customers and employees.
With the nation poised to miss President Biden‘s July 4 goal of 70 percent partial vaccination, experts argue that more vocal support of mandates and passports could help to boost lagging vaccination rates.
“The Biden administration shouldn’t be so squeamish about vaccine verification,” said Leana Wen, a public health professor at George Washington University and former health commissioner of Baltimore.
Wen said the administration should have supported a standardized verification system, calling it a “missed opportunity” to increase vaccine uptake.
Some people may just be waiting for the right incentive, and a mandate may push them in the right direction, she said.
“There are a lot of people in the middle. They’re not eager to get the vaccine, but they’re also not anti-vaxxers. They need an additional push. And that push is still not there, because we have not been requiring proof of vaccination in order to return to normal,” Wen said.
Polls show that young adults in particular would be motivated to get vaccinated if it was required in certain instances.
The Kaiser Family Foundation’s vaccine tracker found about 40 percent of young adults ages 18 to 29 would get vaccinated if it was a requirement for large gatherings like sporting events or concerts, flying on an airplane, or for international travel.
According to Kaiser, the people who would get the vaccine only if it was required mainly say they don’t feel they want or need the vaccine. They are not opposed to it, they just might not do it unless someone forced their hand.
For employers, experts said it is easier for certain industries to mandate vaccinations over others, especially in health care.
But on the flip side, they will also need to be prepared for the fallout, especially if a large proportion of the staff refuses to be vaccinated. Larger businesses will be better equipped to handle it than smaller ones.
For example, Houston Methodist terminated or accepted the resignations of 153 workers after a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit over its mandatory vaccination policy. It was one of the first hospital systems in the nation to impose a COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said he expects more employers will mandate vaccinations once the vaccines are fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
Both Moderna and Pfizer have applied for full approval, and a decision is expected later this summer.
“I think that the administration needs to really push on the FDA to get full licensure of these vaccines, because I think that’s one thing that’s holding back those mandates,” Adalja said.
Adalja also faulted the Biden administration for not having a standardized vaccine certificate or electronic app for companies or venues that want one.
“The idea of trying to have a kind of vaccine certificate or some way to prove your vaccination status, I think this is something that the government should have anticipated and thought through early on … and made some way to make this easy to verify, instead of those flimsy cards they give you,” Adalja said.
The idea of mandates and vaccine passports is politically fraught though, and there is concern that any comments from the White House could backfire, especially in the rural, conservative areas of the country that have some of the lowest vaccination rates in the nation.
Many Republican governors have banned mandates and passports in any form, including from private employers, emphasizing that vaccination is a personal choice.
In addition, well-funded anti-vaccination groups are eager to challenge any kind of vaccine requirement.
Basseterre, St. Kitts, June 26, 2021 (SKNIS): The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis in its efforts to have continued food security has allowed farmers and fisherfolk to engage in their trade under the new restrictive measures implemented to keep citizens and residents safe from the further spread of COVID-19.
This was announced by the Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris, during his national address on June 25, 2021.
“We make a special exception for farmers and fishers to tend their flock, and to go fishing to keep our food supply going during days of limited operation,” said Prime Minister Harris.
PM Harris announced a complete 24-hour lockdown from 6:00 p.m Sunday, June 27 to 5:00 a.m. Thursday, July 01. On Thursday, July 01 and Friday, July 02, there will be a limited movement for limited operation of essential businesses from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and a return to full 24-hour lockdown from 6:00 p.m. Friday, July 02 to Thursday, July 08.
The Federation will again have limited movement for essentials on Thursday, July 08 and Friday, July 09 from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on both days and return to 24-hour lockdown on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 July.
These measures have been taken to preserve social and physical distancing and minimize the risk of transmission of the coronavirus.
In March 2020, the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis pledged $120 million for COVID-19 relief to protect businesses, jobs and the economy. Ten million was injected into the agricultural sector to boost production in the sector and ensure greater food security. Additionally, there was a waiver of payments for the consumption of water by farmers for six months.
Basseterre, St. Kitts, June 26, 2021 (SKNIS): The borders of St. Kitts and Nevis will remain open over the next two weeks to facilitate the arrival and departure of commercial travellers including nationals who are returning home.
Attorney General, the Honourable Vincent Byron Jr, shared the information on Saturday (June 26, 2021), during a live interactive engagement on ZIZ Radio and Television. The engagement addressed questions and comments following last evening’s announcement of a 24-hour lockdown by Prime Minister, Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris. The 24-hour lockdown is exclusive to St. Kitts and forms part of new restrictive measures for the period June 27 to July 11, to curb the community transmission of COVID-19.
Attorney General Byron Jr, said the decision to keep the borders open was based on the continued success of the corridor of containment for incoming travellers established in October 2020.
“When someone lands at the airport, you are met by port health officials, customs, immigration, all have been trained in how to deal in this COVID situation,” he stated. “To leave the airport, you leave in a COVID certified taxi operator that goes to a COVID certified quarantine site or hotel. Even on total lockdown days, there must be some opening for the corridor to function.
“It is important to point out that there will be those travellers going to Nevis and so there are COVID certified ferry operators that will function as well,” he added.
Relatedly, the attorney general said that laboratories that facilitate RT-PCR tests will remain open during the next two weeks. Laboratory appointments will be necessary for testing. Most countries require a negative COVID-19 test to be submitted prior to travellers arriving. Therefore, persons leaving St. Kitts and Nevis will still be able to get tested to meet this international requirement.
Outgoing travellers are advised to notify the nearest police station before leaving for the R. L. Bradshaw International Airport. Travel documents must be presented to law enforcement at established checkpoints along the way.
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, June 25, 2021 (Press Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister) –
The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis has announced a 24-hour lockdown as part of a slate of additional restrictive measures being taken to limit the movement of people, which will in turn halt the current spread of the deadly COVID-19 disease in the Federation.
In a national televised address, Prime Minister Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris said these additional measures have become necessary as “the reduction envisaged over the 14-day incubation period was not realized.”
The prime minister said, “Under these new restrictive measures, the State of Emergency remains in place for both St. Kitts and Nevis and the existing curfew for both islands will continue. But there will be for the island of St. Kitts a complete 24-hour lockdown from 6:00 p.m Sunday, June 27th to 5:00 a.m. Thursday, July 01st. On Thursday 1st July and Friday, July 02nd, there will be limited movement for limited operation of essential businesses from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and a return to full 24 hour lockdown from 6:00 p.m. Friday, July 02nd to Thursday, July 08th. We will again have limited movement for essentials on Thursday, July 08th and Friday, July 09th from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on both days and return to 24 hour lockdown on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th July.”
Prime Minister Harris said a Shelter in Place Order will be strictly enforced by law enforcement officers.
“This means that every person shall remain confined to their place of residence, inclusive of their yard space, to avoid contact outside their family, except for essential workers who are required to report to work; workers required to work in hospitals and medical facilities, licensed providers of security guard services, and such other businesses as may be specifically exempted; for essential travel for medical emergencies; and for essential travel to a vaccination site with vaccination card and one photo id for production to law enforcement on demand between 8.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m. from Monday, June 28th to Wednesday, June 30th,” the prime minister explained.
The other measures as outlined by the prime minister are the closure of all businesses during the strict lockdown period; absolutely no mass gatherings, parties or other social events; the closure of all beaches in St. Kitts, as well as the suspension of liquor licenses.
Special dispensation is being granted to allow students who are sitting external exams to travel to examination centres.
Similarly, a limited number of Government workers will be allowed to travel to work and special exceptions are made for farmers and fishers to tend their flock, and to go fishing to keep our food supply going during days of limited operation.
Prime Minister Harris added, “There will be a special carve out for the island of Nevis which will basically remain the same as obtains presently but will be detailed in the SR&O.”
A special Sitting of the National Assembly is scheduled for Monday, June 28 where the Government will seek to extend the State of Emergency.
A complete 24-hour lockdown from 6 pm Sunday, June 27 to 5:00 am July 1.
The people of St. Kitts will observe a 24-hour lockdown starting Sunday Prime Minister Dr Timothy Harris has announced.
PM Harris announced that there will be limited movement on July 1 and 2 with the operation of essential services from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm and a return to full until lockdown July 8.
“A shelter in place order will be strictly enforced. This means every person will remain confined to his or her place of residence inclusive of their yard space to avoid contact expect their family.”
He said all are expected to where to the shelter in place order except essential workers and except for essential travel and travel for emergencies and vaccinations.
Dr Harris said the Federal Cabinet met and after a thorough evaluation of the situation determined that “there is a need for more restrictive measures to help stop the movement of people and bring to halt the current wave that threatens the fabric of all our institutions and every sector of our society.”
“We understand the social, psychological impact these may have on our citizens and residents but we believe they are necessary for the benefit of all. We will do all within our power to get everyone safely through this period and provide assistance to those in need through the wide social services arm of my government.”
Dr Harris said the National Task Force has committed to the delivery of care packages to those in need.
The state of emergency remains in place for both St. Kitts and Nevis and the existing curfew remains in place for Nevis.
Announced complete lock down in an effort to curb COVID 19 spread
My fellow citizens and residents:
In my address to the Nation on June 12, 2021, I outlined a number of measures intended to contain the community spread of the COVID-19 virus. I stated that these measures would be in place for 14 days until June 26, 2021. The measures taken as a whole, were intended mainly to significantly contain the spread of COVID-19.
We continually emphasized the importance of the use of the non-pharmaceutical measures of social distancing, wearing of masks and hand sanitizing to decrease the spread. We warned about complacency and inaction in this fight as the virus is relentless in its attack and we needed to be relentless in our efforts at containing it and protecting ourselves.
The reduction envisaged over the 14 day incubation period was not realized. Further, sadly over the last week we suffered the loss of 3 of our fellow citizens from this dreaded virus. Every life is precious. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the deceased.
We are very satisfied that our vaccination programme was successfully rolled out culminating in over 800 persons yesterday Thursday and today we had over 900 persons showing up for their second dose of the vaccine.
There is still over 30 percent of the adult population who have not yet received a single dose. The virus will continue to target the vulnerable and unprotected persons in our community and it will find a way to spread itself. Until we contain this wave of infection and all who should be vaccinated are vaccinated and protected we will remain vulnerable to this virus.
Against this backdrop, I wish to inform you that today the Federal Cabinet met and after a thorough evaluation of the situation, determined that there is a need for more restrictive measures to help stop the movement of people and bring to a halt the current wave that has threatened the fabric of all of our institutions and every sector of our society.
We understand the social, psychological and economic impact these may have on our citizens and residents but we believe it is necessary for the benefit of all.
We will do all within our power to get everyone safely through this period and provide assistance to those in need, through the social services arm of Government. Our National Task Force will organize the delivery of care packages to those in need.
Under these new restrictive measures, the State of Emergency remains in place for both St. Kitts and Nevis and the existing curfew for both islands will continue. But there will be for the island of St. Kitts:
Complete 24 hour lock down from 6:00 p.m Sunday, June 27th to 5:00 a.m.. Thursday, July 01st. On Thursday 1st July and Friday, July 02nd, there will be limited movement for limited operation of essential businesses from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and a return to full 24 hour lockdown from 6:00 p.m. Friday, July 03rd to Thursday, July 08th. We will again have limited movement for essentials on Thursday, July 08th and Friday, July 09th from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on both days and return to 24 hour lockdown on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th July.
A Shelter in Place Order will be strictly enforced. This means that every person shall remain confined to their place of residence, inclusive of their yard space, to avoid contact outside their family, except:
essential workers, who are required to report to work;
workers required to work in hospitals and medical facilities, licensed providers of security guard services, and such other businesses as may be specifically exempted;
for essential travel for medical emergencies; and
for essential travel to a vaccination site with vaccination card and one photo id for production to law enforcement on demand between 8.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m. from Monday, June 28th to Wednesday, June 30th.
All places of business including doctors offices will be closed during the strict lockdown hours. On days of limited operation, only essential businesses will be allowed to operate and these businesses are limited to supermarkets, pharmacies and medical facilities, and other businesses authorized by the Commissioner of Police.
While religious and educational institutions are closed, this is a special time for our students as they sit their external exams and therefore a special dispensation is granted to allow students and their parents or guardians to travel to an examination center.
A limited number of Government workers will be needed to ensure the continued functioning of the State. Permanent Secretaries, Directors and other Heads will determine who will be required to attend work.
Clearly, there shall be no mass gatherings, and no parties and other social events.
The beaches in St. Kitts will be closed. We ask that you confine your exercise programme to your home and yard space.
Liquor licenses are suspended. Absolutely NO rum shops, bars nor nightspots will be allowed to operate.
We make a special exception for farmers and fishers to tend their flock, and to go fishing to keep our food supply going during days of limited operation.
There will be a special carve out for the island of Nevis which will basically remain the same as obtains presently but this will be detailed in the new SR&O.
On Monday, we will convene an emergency sitting of the Parliament. We believe that this is necessary in our fight against the COVID pandemic because of the current spread of the virus here in our Country. We believe that this difficult state of affairs in our beloved Federation, requires that we extend the state of emergency, like ten other countries in the region have done, to allow us to use the emergency powers to assist our Health Team and Security Personnel in the fight against this deadly virus.
My citizens and residents in this fight the action of every single individual affects us all. We are in this together. None of us is safe until all of us are safe.
I urge you to do the right thing and protect yourself over the next 14 days to prevent the continued spread of the virus. I urge you to use the opportunity to get vaccinated so you can protect yourself, your family, and community. Vaccination is our most powerful tool to defeat the virus. The success of our vaccination roll-out so far calls for optimism.
There is light at the end of the tunnel, and I am confident that our people will do the right thing over these coming two weeks, that will allow us to emerge safer and stronger. Let us be united in the fight for our lives and our Country. To better protect ourselves, let us get vaccinated and adhere to the COVID-19 protocols. Let us adopt the appropriate behavior needed to fight this deadly virus.
image copyrightUmma Kannayan
