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Lionel Johnson, 47, lights a cigarette while sitting outside the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation temporary night shelter on Church Street. Deported from New York almost two decades ago, Johnson said he has no relatives here in Jamaica. He said he was shocked to hear about the brutal attacks on the homeless that left four dead and two injured.

The cold, haunting streets of Kingston were frozen with fear on Monday night as the capital’s nomads snuggled in corners or retreated to shelters in the aftermath of the grisly murders of four homeless men and the wounding of two others.

The macabre scenes spanned an arc of 9.5km (6.0 miles), stretching from the shopping strip of Half-Way Tree to downtown and further west near Bumper Hall.

Kingston Mayor Delroy Williams called the incidents a “stain” on the nation – a contrast to what he viewed as improving relations between the public and the homeless population.

While attacks, even deadly ones, on homeless persons occur occasionally, Jamaicans awoke to a scale of carnage to the city’s vulnerable as infamous as it was horrific.

The police said their probe into what appeared to be coordinated attacks was ongoing as they pursued several leads. Some of downtown’s homeless who spoke to journalists believe that one of their own might have been responsible for the bloodbath.

The investigations might also delve into questions of whether the savagery was the work of a serial killer. It is uncertain whether the acts were committed by a single person.

Barrington Hall bemoaned the murder of his soulmate and friend ‘Soljie’, one of the four men killed in the streets between Sunday night and Monday morning. Soljie met his demise on the outskirts of the civil and tax division of the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court – chilling irony of the injustice that befell him.

Hall, who has been homeless for years and regularly hangs out with Soljie, mused that he might have suffered a similarly bloody fate if he had slept near his pal on Sutton Street as usual.

“Dem say me miss it. I sleep out here. Me and she, too,” Hall told The Gleaner, referencing a nearby homeless woman.

“We talk about woman and thing and we smoke, enuh … . Sometimes I beg him a draw or I buy my own and ting, yuh know. Otherwise he was just a friend.”

Two deceased were found on Hanover Street in the Kingston Central Police Division and a fourth in Kingston West in the vicinity of the Mother White Bridge.

The injured men were found at a Constant Spring Road plaza and on Derrymore Road in the St Andrew Central Police Division.

A resident of central Kingston who lives in the area where the downtown murders occurred told The Gleaner on Monday that the attacks were an indictment on the State and the people of Jamaica. He was seen busily covering bloodstains with sawdust.

“Homeless people are being murdered on the streets and not being protected by the citizens and the State, especially in COVID time.

“If they were allowing people on the street over time, maybe somebody would see the act and try and stop it,” the man, who requested anonymity, said, hinting at the nightly islandwide curfews that run from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Another resident, Marlon Carter, was more concerned about the attacker and the motive.

He theorised that the modus operandi was consistent with the threats issued by a mentally ill man who roamed central Kingston.

“He was here before, but him come back about two weeks now. Every madman afraid of him. He is insane and threatens people before him attack,” he said.

The police could not confirm whether that person was a suspect.

Security personnel at the Poor Relief Department in Kingston indicated that arrangements were being made to accommodate as many homeless persons as possible overnight.

There are an estimated 2,000 homeless people in Jamaica, around 700 of them in Greater Kingston. The capital’s downtown region accounts for about 500 of them.

Lionel Johnson was among a few lonely souls who battled the chill on a Kingston sidewalk Monday night.

The 47-year-old deportee from the United States has no family and was fearful of what the night held for him on Church Street.

Earlier on Monday, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Desmond McKenzie also condemned the attacks.

“While these are clearly horrific and criminal acts, I am left to wonder if this is the outcome of an outburst of madness. It challenges me to do even more for our homeless population,” McKenzie said in a statement.

Opposition Leader and PNP President Mark Golding called for immediate action to be taken by the Government in response to the killings.

“This morning’s (Monday’s) incidents are further evidence of the severity of the crisis of violence in our nation, where Jamaica has become a place in which our most vulnerable and defenceless can be so heartlessly attacked and murdered in our capital,” Golding said.

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The president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, has called on wealthy countries to stop hoarding excess Covid-19 vaccines, as he said the world needed to act together to fight the pandemic.

Ramaphosa, who currently chairs the African Union, said African countries wanted access to vaccines as quickly as other nations.

South Africa’s Covid outbreak is the worst in Africa, with 1,417,537 cases confirmed since the start of the pandemic, and 41,117.

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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis has designated Thursday January 28, 2021, as a National Day of Prayer to give God thanks for his goodness and providence over the past year, and for guidance and protection in the year ahead.

The Antioch Baptist Church in Lime Kiln, Basseterre, has been identified as the official church for the National Day of Prayer where government ministers, church leaders, permanent secretaries, and senior government officials will congregate for worship at 8:00 a.m. All churches in the Federation are expected to open their doors for people to have an hour of sacred time with the Lord throughout the day.

Special prayers will be offered up for the extraordinary circumstances in which the Federation and the whole world over have found themselves in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic. Frontline workers, businesses, and the unemployed will receive special intercessory prayer. The security forces, the youth, families, victims of gun and domestic violence and a cessation of the same, the government, leaders in civil society, and community organizations will also be prayed for.

The National Day of Prayer will be carried live on ZIZ Radio and Television and streamed live at zizonline.com.

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President of Suriname, Chan Santokhi has tested positive for COVID-19 while several members of his Cabinet who were in contact with him in recent days are being tested for the highly contagious virus.

In an address to the nation on Sunday, Santokhi said he was feeling strong and had no symptoms of the virus, but would remain at home on the advice of health authorities. He is in isolation at his private residence where he said he will be working for the next few days.

The government’s information service, CDS said contact tracing is underway and the process of testing everyone who had been in contact with President Santokhi should be completed by Tuesday.

So far, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, International Business & International Cooperation, Spatial Zoning and Environment and Finance and Planning have tested negative.

According to the CDS press release, the Office of the President is being disinfected and Cabinet Ministers were instructed to work from home for the next three days and encouraged not to entertain visitors. They were also advised to take necessary precautions at home until they have been tested and get a negative result.

Meantime, President Santokhi has called on residents to adhere strictly to the government’s COVID-19 measures to help prevent the spread of the virus.

There have been 7,246 confirmed COVID-19 cases recorded in Suriname since the start of the pandemic.

The death toll has reached 149. In January alone, 28 people died from the disease, making this month the deadliest since the virus was detected in Suriname in March 2020.

CMC

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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — Basketball City in Basseterre is sporting a new look thanks to an expanded upkeep project implemented by the Department of Sports.

The interior and exterior of the premier basketball facility were repainted, while the wooden bleachers were replaced with aluminium bleachers. Nearby trees were trimmed, and other general improvement activities were carried out.

Minister of Sports, the Honourable Jonel Powell, surveyed the work at Basketball City on January 22. While there, Hon. Powell was greeted by Glenville Jeffers, President of the St. Kitts Amateur Basketball Association (SKABA). Jeffers thanked Minister Powell and the department staff for transforming the look and feel of the facility.

“I am quite pleased, and I am sure basketball players and fans will be pleased with how aesthetically clean and colourful … Basketball City looks,” said Jeffers. “It would be more appealing for people to come to Basketball City,” he added, noting that the junior teams had already begun competition, while the seniors were preparing to kick off their season shortly.

Minister Powell highlighted the positive relationship between the Department of Sports and SKABA and pledged additional support.

“This is just part of the ongoing partnership that we hope to maintain with SKABA and part of the general maintenance and upkeep programme that we want to have in the Department of Sports, not just for basketball but for all of our sporting facilities across the island,” he said.

Other improvements to be carried out at the premier basketball facility will see the resurfacing of the basketball court, replacement of the backboard and rings as well as the installation of adjustable basketball frames. The new frames will be useful in teaching the game to a younger generation as the ring can be lowered to a suitable height.

The minister said the long term plan is to build a new home for the sport.

“The ultimate goal is for us to have a proper indoor facility in St. Kitts and Nevis,” said Powell. He referred to the economic challenges that St. Kitts and Nevis and the rest of the world are facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic and said it would be impractical to expect progress this year.

“It is still on the table,” said Powell. “It is something that I intend to achieve as the Minister of Sport here in St. Kitts and Nevis.”

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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — The Police are investigating the death of a six-month old infant who died on Friday, January 22.

The Police visited the JNF General Hospital on January 21, after receiving a report that an infant was brought to the Accident and Emergency Room after being left in a car for several hours.

Preliminary investigations so far have revealed that the father, who had collected the baby to take her to the nursery, returned to work that morning. Sometime after midday, he went back to the vehicle and discovered the baby was still in the back seat. He took the baby to the hospital where she was admitted and warded in the Intensive Care Unit. The infant died early the following morning.

An autopsy was performed on January 25 by Resident Pathologist, Dr. Adrian Nunez. He concluded that the cause of death was Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy due to Asphyxia as a consequence of confinement in a closed space (vehicle). Investigations into the matter are ongoing.

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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Scientists from the three principal public universities in Costa Rica, the University of Costa Rica, the Technologic University and the National University, completed the first prototype of saliva tests for a speedy diagnosis of COVID-19.

After almost a month of investigation and the support of more than 20 specialists, the scientists begin with the verification phase of the saliva tests they are developing for the fast diagnosis of COVID-19.

With the use of synthetic genes also designed by the scientists, the preliminary results obtained so far are successful, according to the scientists.

“The first results show that in vitro tests using synthetic genes achieved a sensitivity of 94.4 percent in the ability of the test to detect the disease. It also has a specificity level of 100 percent in the case of applying the test to healthy individuals,” German Madrigal, director of the Institute for Pharmaceutical Research said. “The percentages obtained are very high and mean that the test has great potential to improve the diagnosis of COVID-19.”

Intending to carry the validation tests, the scientists designed synthetic COVID-19 genes and artificial saliva as a first step to counteract the results with the standard test known as Polymerase chain reaction, PCR.

The most common test is the PCR, which is a process that amplifies (replicates) a small, well-defined segment of DNA hundreds of thousands of times, creating enough of it for analysis. Samples can be obtained by a nasopharyngeal swab (or nasopharyngeal culture) for collecting nasal secretions from the back of the nose and throat.

If this new test successfully passes the following two stages that are still pending, it is expected that within a few months the university will share with Social Security, the Ministry of Health and any company that wishes to produce the tests.

The country will have an additional resource to the standard test for the diagnosis of COVID-19 with 70 percent less cost, the scientist said in the statement.

The speedy and efficient detection of COVID-19 is vital for health authorities, due to the increase in virus contagions in the country.

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GENEVA – Tentative signs of recovery are emerging in global labour markets, following unprecedented disruption in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the latest report from the International Labour Organization.

New annual estimates in the seventh edition of the ILO Monitor: COVID-19 and the world of work confirm the massive impact that labour markets suffered in 2020. The latest figures show that 8.8 percent of global working hours were lost for the whole of last year (relative to the fourth quarter of 2019), equivalent to 255 million full-time jobs1 . This is approximately four times greater than the number lost during the 2009 global financial crisis.

These lost working hours are accounted for either by reduced working hours for those in employment or “unprecedented” levels of employment loss, hitting 114 million people2 . Significantly, 71 percent of these employment losses (81 million people) came in the form of inactivity, rather than unemployment, meaning that people left the labour market because they were unable to work, perhaps because of pandemic restrictions, or simply ceased to look for work. Looking at unemployment alone drastically understates the impact of COVID-19 on the labour market.

These massive losses resulted in an 8.3 percent decline in global labour income (before support measures are included), equivalent to US$3.7 trillion or 4.4 percent of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Impact by groups and sectors

Women have been more affected than men by the pandemic’s labour market disruptions. Globally, employment losses for women stand at 5 percent, versus 3.9 percent for men. In particular, women were much more likely than men to drop out of the labour market and become inactive.

Younger workers have also been particularly hard hit, either losing jobs, dropping out of the labour force or delaying entry into it. The employment loss among youth (15-24 years old) stood at 8.7 percent, compared to 3.7 percent for adults. This “highlights the all too real risk of a lost generation,” the Monitor says.

The report shows the uneven impact on different economic, geographic, and labour market sectors. It highlights concerns of a “K-shaped recovery,” whereby those sectors and workers hit hardest could be left behind in the recovery, leading to increasing inequality, unless corrective measures are taken.

The worst affected sector has been accommodation and food services, where employment declined by more than 20 percent, on average, followed by retail and manufacturing. In contrast, employment in information and communication, and finance and insurance, increased in the second and third quarters of 2020. Marginal increases were also seen in mining, quarrying and utilities.

Looking ahead

While there is still a high degree of uncertainty, the latest projections for 2021 show that most countries will experience a relatively strong recovery in the second half of the year, as vaccination programmes take effect.

The Monitor puts forward three scenarios for recovery; baseline, pessimistic and optimistic. The baseline scenario (which draws on International Monetary Fund forecasts from October 2020), projects a 3 percent loss of working hours globally in 2021 (compared to Q4 2019), equivalent to 90 million full time jobs.

“The signs of recovery we see are encouraging, but they are fragile and highly uncertain, and we must remember that no country or group can recover alone.”

Guy Ryder, ILO Director-General

The pessimistic scenario, which assumes slow progress on vaccination in particular, would see working hours drop by 4.6 percent, while the optimistic scenario forecasts a 1.3 percent decline. This would depend on the pandemic being under control and an upsurge of consumer and business confidence.

In all scenarios the Americas, Europe and Central Asia would experience around twice the working hour losses of other regions.

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