Ministry of Health Media Release
June 4, 2021
Issued By: Office of the Chief Medical Officer

This evening, FridayJune4, 2021, I wish to update you on the present COVID-19 situation. Within the last twenty-four hours we have recorded five(5) additional cases. These new cases are nationals and are  referred to as Case #79 through to Case #83.The individuals are in isolation and are being monitored. These cases bring the total number of COVID-19 confirmed cases to 83 with 69 cases for St. Kitts and 14 cases for Nevis. Please note that 51 cases have fully re cove red with zero deaths. There are now thirty-two(32) active cases.

The Ministry of Health continues its robust contact tracing exercise which began on Wednesday May 19, 2021and we will update you as the situation unfolds. We will broaden our web of contact tracing and testing to identify all possible contacts. The aim is to break the chains of transmission of the COVID-19 virus and contain this cluster of cases. The Ministry of Health wishes to assure the public that all measures are being taken to restrict the spread of coronavirus.

We urge you to adhere to the COVID-19 prevention and control measures. These include wearing a face mask, maintaining good hand hygiene, maintaining physical distance of at least 6 feet from others when in public places and avoiding crowds and events. These non-pharmaceutical measures work, and we are encouraging everyone to comply with them especially at this time.

We remind you that the AstraZeneca / Oxford COVID-19 vaccine is our main tool in fighting this virus and we urge you to come forward and get vaccinated. By getting vaccinated you are not only protecting yourself but those who cannot be vaccinated such as all of our school children.

We continue to encourage persons to empower themselves with the facts about the benefits of the AstraZeneca / Oxford Vaccine and take advantage of this opportunity to be vaccinated. You can access the COVID-19 vaccine at any health center in St. Kitts tomorrow Saturday June 5, 2021 between 9:00 am to 4:00 pm and at two health centers in Nevis-Charlestown Health Center between 8:00am to 1:00 pm and Gingerland Health Center between 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm.

Let us work together to maintain and protect the health and wellbeing of the people of the Federatio

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Luke Harding

Guardian– A late-night stroll in the moonlight, then a sudden and fatal gunshot. What exactly happened between the socialite partner of the son of a billionaire Tory donor and a senior police officer in the early hours of last Friday in the resort of Mata Rocks has gripped the small Caribbean nation of Belize and turned into an international drama. It is now a major test for the country’s legal and criminal system.

This week a 32-year-old Canadian woman, Jasmine Hartin, was accused of the negligent manslaughter of a local police superintendent, Henry Jemmott. The case has attracted attention because Hartin is the partner of Andrew Ashcroft, son of Michael Ashcroft, the Conservative party donor and Belize’s most influential resident. Lord Ashcroft is a former Tory party deputy chairman, a one-time member of the House of Lords, and a billionaire.

Hartin is currently in Belize’s central jail awaiting a bail hearing next week. According to police, she met Jemmott in Ambergris Caye, Belize’s most northerly point, known for its beaches, coral reef and snorkelling. Hartin had earlier been at a party with Andrew Ashcroft in the town of San Pedro. Afterwards she went for a stroll with Jemmott, who was off duty.

The pair sat together on the end of a pier. Jemmott allegedly showed her his Glock service pistol. When she passed it back to him it accidentally went off, she told police, shooting Jemmott in the back of the head. The officer – a large man, 1.82 metres (6ft) tall, weighing more than 135kg (300lb) – rolled into the sea, dead. Hartin, who said she had been giving him a massage, was found distraught and covered in blood.

She was taken to the San Pedro jail and then transferred on Tuesday to the main prison. Her defence attorney, Godfrey Smith, a former foreign minister of Belize, has applied for bail. Prosecutors have objected, suggesting Hartin is a flight risk. During a hearing on Wednesday the judge in the case, Justice Herbert Lord, expressed his disapproval of the frenzied tabloid coverage. A further hearing is scheduled for 9 June.

Friends and relatives have described Jemmott as a tough and ambitious officer, who made his reputation cleaning up the drug-ridden Southside neighbourhood of Belize City. He was a father of six, a keen drummer and a likely future police commissioner, they said. “My brother loved life. He has a passion for his work. He loved his family as well. My brother loved people,” his sister Marie told 7 News, a local TV station.

 

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Putting the recent volcanic devastation behind it, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines celebrated a significant win with the launch of Medicinal, a marijuana cultivating firm that offers a range of CDB products….made from plants that seem to thrive in volcanic infused soil.

The company was started by Kelly Glass and Barry Ferdinand in 2018, not too long after the SVG government legalised medicinal marijuana.

Having been a recipient of medicinal cannabis while being treated for cancer in the US, Glass experienced first-hand just how effective it is.

He was determined to introduce Vincentians to the power of medicinal marijuana while also making it accessible to them.

The company’s Chief Science Officer, Marie-Helene Tremblay told Loop Caribbean: “Cannabis has been grown in SVG for decades by traditional farmers. One of our main goals is to professionalize the cannabis industry not only in SVG but everywhere we set foot. This is done by training local farmers and being the first ones to get accreditation in good agricultural and collection practices. Medicinal intends to keep St. Vincent’s scientific minds in St. Vincent by creating jobs and opportunity for them.”

Tremblay said local farmers are the backbone of the country’s agriculture sector and will be instrumental in maintaining a sustainable economy for the cannabis industry.

As such,  she explained, Medicinal has committed to providing technical assistance to guarantee that all protocols are followed and standards met.

“Technical assistance will include field supervision, seed-to-sale platform, seedlings and cuttings, as well as the importation of items needed by the farmers,” she said. “Using the Analytical Laboratory soon to be opened in SVG, we will be able to assure that the quality meets our standards by acquiring certificates of analysis for each product harvested at local farms.”

The Chief Science Officer said: “In SVG, we grow on volcanic soil, which is ideal for plant growth. We are very lucky to have such fertile soil, and all year round sun that helps the plants mature in an optimal way. We have many traditional farmers on our team that have been growing.”

Tremblay further explained: “Our vertical integration allows our customers to track the provenance of individual plants from seedling through growth, harvest, drying, extraction and purification. This reassures our customers that Medicinal has the control on all aspects of the supply chain.”

Having gotten approval from the Medicinal Cannabis Authority, Medicinal launched 20 products that are being distributed locally.

These products- lotions, tinctures, vapes, flowers, pre-rolls and kief- are THC and CBD.

THC is defined by the way cannabis makes you feel while the effects of CBD can’t be felt.

Wondering how this groundbreaking company impacts the SVG economy?

Tremblay told Loop: “Medicinal employs more than 40 employees. Moreover, we create indirect employment through our co-op farmer program. The company hopes to grow even more in the next year. Every time we can, we source our materials locally (construction, agricultural, marketing…). We have three new facilities in SVG. All three facilities created employment for more than 75 construction workers.”

Tremblay said it’s a privilege to be part of this growing industry. The aim she said, is to improve the lives of Medicinal customers, clients, partners, staff and the wider community.

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The Antigua and Barbuda government is offering an 8,000 square feet parcel of land as an inducement to get nationals to get vaccinated as the island moves to curb the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

A statement issued after the regular Cabinet meeting said persons must be vaccinated between the period June 7 to June 30.

“Although nearly 35,000 adults have taken the first dose at this time, at least 5,000 additional first-doses need to be administered by June 30, 2021. The Cabinet agreed that this novel approach towards inducing vaccination is intended to encourage as many adults to quickly vaccinate and to move the country closer towards achieving herd immunity. Parliamentarians and their family members are disqualified from participating in the raffle,” the statement said.

It said that other incentives that have been relied upon to encourage vaccination against the COVID-19 disease will continue, including food, gasoline, and gift vouchers.

“Results will be returned within 48 hours following the test, and negative results will cause the new arrivals to be released from quarantine. Those returning nationals who have only a COVID-19 negative test and who have not had any vaccine or only one vaccine administered, will be required to spend 14 days in quarantine. A second test will be administered near the end of the 14-day quarantine period; if negative, the returning national will be released,” the statement said.

It added that a visitor on arrival and staying at a hotel deemed a bio-secure space, will be dispatched to that hotel. The visitor could be tested either at the hotel or the airport.

“The Cabinet encourages all persons 18 years and older who were born outside of Antigua and Barbuda and who now reside within the state to become vaccinated. The immigration status does not and will not be held against those non-nationals who may be out of time.

“The Cabinet has ordered the Minister of Legal Affairs to enshrine within the Regulations governing COVID-19, that those immigrants who might otherwise be subject to “removal” or “deportation” cannot be prosecuted for seeking the immunization vaccine.

“Those who are yet to regularize their presence within the State will not be removed or deported from the State, the Cabinet instructed, so that all adults living in Antigua and Barbuda will be vaccinated, no questions asked,” the statement noted.

Antigua and Barbuda has recorded 1,262 positive cases and 42 deaths linked to the virus since March last year.

CMC

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Ministry of Health Media Release
June 3, 2021
Issued By: Office of the Chief Medical Officer

This afternoon,ThursdayJune3, 2021, I wish to update you on the present COVID-19 situation. Within the last twenty-four hours we have recorded four (4) additional cases. These new cases are nationals and are referred to as Case #75 through to Case #78. The individuals are in isolation at a COVID-19 certified facility. These cases bring the total number of COVID-19 confirmed cases to 78 with 64 cases for St. Kitts and 14 cases for Nevis. Please note that 51cases have fully recovered with zero deaths. There are now twenty-seven(27) active cases. These patients are stable and are being monitored.

The Ministry of Health continues its robust contact tracing exercise which began on Wednesday May 19, 2021and we will update you as the situation unfolds. We will broaden our web of contact tracing and testing to identify all possible contacts. The aim is to break the chains of transmission of the COVID-19 virus and contain this cluster of cases. The Ministry of Health wishes to assure the public that all measures are being taken to restrict the spread of coronavirus.

We urge you to adhere to the COVID-19 prevention and control measures. These include wearing a face mask, maintaining good hand hygiene, maintaining physical distance of at least 6 feet from others when in public places and avoiding crowds and events. These non-pharmaceutical measures work, and we are encouraging everyone to comply with them especially at this time.

We remind you that the AstraZeneca / Oxford COVID-19 vaccine is our main tool in fighting this virus and we urge you to come forward and get vaccinated. By getting vaccinated you are not only protecting yourself but those who cannot be vaccinated such as all of our school children. We continue to encourage persons to empower themselves with the facts about the benefits of the AstraZeneca/Oxford Vaccine and take advantage of this opportunity to be vaccinated. You can access the COVID-19 vaccine at any health center in St. Kitts during this week Monday to Friday between the hours of 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm and any health center in Nevis during this week between the hours of 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm.

Let us work together to maintain and protect the health and wellbeing of the people of the Federation.

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The twin islands now require all foreign tourists, including those from the United States, to be vaccinated with either a two-dose vaccine, like the Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, or AstraZeneca shots, or a single dose vaccine, like the Johnson & Johnson shot, according to the St. Kitts Tourism Authority. Travelers must wait at least two weeks after their final dose before coming to the islands.

Unvaccinated children under 18 who travel with fully vaccinated parents or guardians are exempt from the requirement.

In addition to proof of vaccination, travelers must submit a negative COVID-19 PCR test from an approved lab taken within 72 hours before traveling.

Tourists then have to book a stay at one of several “Travel Approved” hotels, and “Vacation in Place” for at least a week. While at the hotel, tourists can move freely throughout the property and use all the amenities, according to the tourism authority.

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Guardian- Ministers have moved to tighten Britain’s borders as new data suggests the Delta coronavirus variant is much more likely to cause serious illness and is circulating more rapidly within schools.

With England’s reopening on 21 June hanging in the balance, the government removed Portugal from the green list of countries and added seven more countries to the red list – moves that provoked fury within the travel industry and left many holidaymakers in limbo.

Portugal, including Madeira and the Azores, was the only mainstream tourist destination Britons could visit without having to quarantine. On Tuesday, these destinations will be moved to the amber list, requiring travellers to self-isolate for 10 days upon return.

British travellers count cost of Portugal’s sudden removal from green list

Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, said that as well as rising Covid test positivity rates in Portugal, a “difficult decision” hinged on worries about Covid variants, particularly a possible additional mutation of the Delta variant.

Data from Public Health England released on Thursday evening showed that the Delta variant, B.1.617.2, first detected in India, is dominant in the UK, now accounting for 75% of infections.

The data also indicated that the variant was significantly more likely to cause serious illness than the Alpha variant of Covid, which has been dominant across the UK since its detection in Kent in the autumn.

While the PHE team stressed that more research was needed, an analysis of 38,805 sequenced cases in England showed that the Delta variant carried 2.61 times the risk of hospitalisation within 14 days compared with the Alpha variant (B.1.1.7) once demographic factors and vaccination status were taken into account.

Data from Scotland pointed to a more than twofold higher risk of hospitalisation for those infected with the Delta variant compared with the Alpha.

The new PHE data also revealed for the first time the spread of variants within schools and colleges in England. By the start of June, there had been 140 outbreaks of the Delta variant within educational settings, and since the end of April the figures showed 90 outbreaks of this variant within schools alone.

Responding to the PHE report, Prof Christina Pagel, director of UCL’s clinical operational research unit, said: “Every technical report seems to bring worse news. Added to increased transmissibility and some vaccine escape, we now have evidence that your chance of being hospitalised might be twice as high with the Delta variant than with the Alpha variant. This makes it harder for vaccines to weaken the link between cases and hospitalisations.

“The other new thing in this report is data on outbreak settings, and it is clear that schools are a major source of transmission and that outbreaks in primary and secondary schools have been growing a lot week on week.”

Shapps tied the decision about Portugal to fears that returning travellers could bring in more variants, further jeopardising the government’s timetable to end many of the remaining Covid social restrictions on 21 June. There is still no decision as to whether the planned reopening will happen then, or if restrictions might need to be extended allowing more people to be vaccinated. A decision is due by 14 June.

“We just don’t know the potential for that to be a vaccine-defeating mutation, and we don’t want to take the risk as we come up to 21 June and the review of the fourth stage of the unlock,” Shapps said in a TV interview.

He also highlighted what he called “a sort of Nepal mutation”. A mutation of the Delta variant, this is suspected of potentially being more resistant to vaccines, but is not under observation by PHE. It has been seen in numerous countries but only once in Nepal, which carries out very little genome sequencing for Covid.

As news leaked out about the green list decision hours before the official announcement, hundreds of millions of pounds were wiped off the value of tour operators and airlines, and there was significant anger.

Green-list destinations are in effect the only choice for holidays. The listing allows people to return to England without quarantining, although they must take a Covid-19 test before coming back and another within two days of arriving.

Aside from Portugal, Gibraltar and Israel, the initial 12-destination green list mainly comprised places – such as Australia, New Zealand, the Falkland Islands and Iceland – that did not allow entry to Britons.

Ahead of the three-weekly review of the list, there had been expectation that more tourism centres could be added, for example Spain’s Balearic islands and some Greek islands.

Johan Lundgren, EasyJet’s chief executive, said the decision “essentially cuts the UK off from the rest of the world”.

John Holland-Kaye, chief executive of Heathrow airport, said: “Ministers spent last month hailing the restart of international travel only to close it down three weeks later, all but guaranteeing another lost summer for the travel sector.”

Henry Smith, the Conservative MP whose Crawley constituency includes Gatwick, said he was “very concerned that [the government was] not being more ambitious” on travel. “I think we should be going in the other direction and liberalising the amount of countries on the green travel list. This decision really puts a question mark over a significant number of travel and aviation sector jobs – going forward, if they can’t manage to have something of a summer season, I think it’s going to lead to increased unemployment.”

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