CARIBBEAN ROUNDUP
Bahamas
Former Bahamas Prime Minister,
Hubert Ingraham has been admitted
to hospital after testing positive for
COVID-19.
Ingraham, who first led the Free
National Movement (FNM) party to a
general election victory in 1992 and
followed that up with victories in 1997
and 2007, was diagnosed with the virus
recently, but was admitted to hospital
last week when his
symptoms worsened,
said Dr. Duane Sands,
a former minister of
health.
Sands, said at no
time was the 73-year-old placed on a
ventilator machine.
“He is Covid positive and he was
being treated at home, but got worse
and is now hospitalized. He is in a critical
care area at Doctors Hospital being
managed by a team of physicians as he
convalesces,” Sands said.
The former PM’s diagnosis comes as
19 people were confirmed to have the
virus last week, including 13 men and
six women.
Officials of the Health Ministry are
said to be on alert for new COVID-
19 variants, particularly ones originating
in the United Kingdom and South
Africa.
Barbados
After an outbreak of COVID-19 cases,
surpassing 360, the island’s lone prison
is now free of the virus, according
to Minister of Homes Affairs, Wilfred
Abrahams.
He said there were no active cases of
COVID-19 at Her Majesty Prisons Dodds
within either the staff or inmate population.
After two members
of the prison’s staff
were tested positive
for COVID-19 on Dec.
31, 2020, mass testing was carried out
at the prison. The infection number
increased to 366 at the peak of the outbreak,
comprised of 102 members of
staff and 264 prisoners.
Adams told a news conference, “this
potentially disastrous situation was
managed and brought under control
through rigid adherence to the protocols
set for its control and by constant
communication and co-operation by
and between all concerned. This included
in large measure, the inmate population
at the prison as well.”
He told the media that the protocol
for ensuring the timely release of those
who had served their entire prison sentence
has been working well and those
due for release were being allowed to go
as scheduled.
Adams said the ability to get a handle
on the situation at HMP Dodds depended
Caribbean L 6 ife, MARCH 5-11, 2021
Updated daily at www.caribbeanlifenews.com
Former Bahamian Prime Minster Hubert A. Ingraham seen here delivering his speech during the special session on drugs at the
United Nations Monday, June 8, 1998. (Associated Press/Kathy Willens, fi le)
on the prison’s “vigilance and discipline
with both the prison officers and
the inmate population, while we were
under this crisis.”
Guyana
The Guyana government will be
reducing the excise tax on gasoline and
diesel to ease the domestic impact of
the sharp rise in the world market price
for fuel.
In announcing the
cut in excise taxes
last week, senior minister
in the Office of
the President with
Responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni
Singh said over the past few months, oil
prices have risen steadily on the world
market, from US$35 a barrel in late
October 2020 to over US$60 a barrel at
the close of trade a week ago.
He added that as a result of this
steady increase on the world market,
fuel prices have also been rising on the
domestic market.
In order to minimize the impact on
domestic consumers, particularly the
traveling public as well as those productive
sectors for whom fuel is an important
input, Singh announced that the
Government will be lowering the excise
tax rate on both gasoline and diesel
from 50 per cent to 35 percent with
immediate effect.
As a result of the reduction in the
excise tax rates, the price at the pump
will also be reduced with immediate
effect.
Jamaica
Governor of the Bank of Jamaica
(BOJ), Richard Byles says the country is
beginning to show signs of incremental
improvement in economic activity, even
amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
He cited the relatively
buoyant foreign
exchange market flows,
adequate reserves, a
sustainable balance of
payments position and
the containment of inflation within the
BOJ’s 4-6 percent target range as evidence
of the progress being made.
He said based on the latest development
“we believe the contraction in
the economy is past its worst and the
outlook is for continued, albeit more
gradual improvements in economic
activity.”
Speaking at the BOJ’s recently quarterly
digital briefing, the BOJ governor
noted that the 10.7 percent contraction
in domestic growth recorded in the
September 2020 quarter represented
an improvement on the 18.4 percent
decline for April to June 2020, and the
bank continues to project that for the
full 2020/2021 fiscal year, real gross
domestic product (GDP) will contract in
the range of 10-12 percent.
St. Kitts
St. Kitts and Nevis Premier, Mark
Brantley and other cabinet ministers
became the first individuals to receive
Continued on Page 18
THE NEWS FROM BACK HOME
Former Bahamas PM tests Covid positive
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