CARIBBEAN ROUNDUP
Barbados
Barbados Prime Minister, Mia Mottley
has said the economy could lose
as much as Bds$25million (US$12.5
million) as a result of the two-week
lockdown, which will go into effect
this month.
She said during a televised address,
the country would be on a two-week
lockdown in February in an effort to
reduce the risk of further COVID-19
spread, adding that
saving lives of Barbadians
was a priority.
Lamenting the
recent deaths of three
elderly people in a one
week, which marked the first COVID-
19 deaths since the seven recorded in
April, the prime minister said the twoweek
period of “national pause” was
necessary.
She said the cost will be a significant
amount probably close to Bds$20-
$25 million over the next two weeks,
and probably deeper in terms of wider
economic impact.
“For sure, the economy is going to
be seriously affected but as we discussed
with the International Monetary
Fund’s Fiscal Affairs mission, we
must spend what we will and we will
keep the receipts and be accountable,”
she said.
Mottley said she was confident the
economy would eventually bounce
back.
Barbados is now grappling with
the community spread of COVID-19,
according to Minister of Health, Lt.
Col. Jeffrey Bostic.
Guyana
The World Bank recently approved
US$13.5 million in
additional financing
to support efforts to
improve education
in Guyana, as the
COVID-19 pandemic takes a toll on
the sector.
The financing is specifically for the
ongoing Guyana Secondary Education
Improvement Project, which aims
to improve teaching in mathematics
and increase enrollment in secondary
schools and provide equipment
and training to support innovative
technology-assisted education delivery
methods.
The additional financing will also be
used to complete construction of two
secondary schools, supply resources
for those schools and build a new secondary
school.
Guyana’s education sector has made
significant progress in the last decade,
the World Bank noted.
The additional financing from the
World Bank will also provide more
resources to an existing pilot program
Caribbean L 4 ife, FEBRUARY 5-11, 2021
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Barbados Prime Minister, Mia Mottley has announced a two-week lockdown to reduce COVID-19 spread. Photo by George Alleyne
that uses adaptive learning software
on tablets for mathematics education.
The project, which was approved
in 2014, has been extended to 2023 to
ensure the successful completion of all
the activities.
Jamaica
The Jamaica government has started
discussions with China, Cuba and
India with regard to
obtaining COVID-10
vaccines when they
become available.
Minister of Health
and Wellness, Dr.
Christopher Tufton said that those
countries were well advanced in the
research and clinical trials of their vaccines
and the government was interested
in getting some.
Last month, when he announced the
administration was exploring access to
safe vaccines outside of the World
Health Organization’s (WHO) COVID-
19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX)
Facility, Tufton said Jamaica would
enter bilateral agreement meetings
with the three nations to ascertain
their level of support and to determine
the best arrangement for acquisition
and distribution of safe vaccines for
the population.
The deployment of COVID-19 vaccines
in the Caribbean and across the
Americas under COVAX is anticipated
to begin at the end of March.
St. Vincent
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Prime Minister, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves
has again rejected the imposition of
curfews, a state of
emergency, and an
outright lockdown
measures in response
to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He, however recently announced
public holidays, saying the strain of
the pandemic and the ongoing effusive
eruption of the La Soufriere volcano
are beginning to show on the faces of
citizens.
“We perhaps need as a people to
pause, to reflect, to act more assuredly
in the ways, which are inclusive
in solidarity with each other and to be
engaged fully for the long haul ahead,”
he said in a national address.
Since Dec. 28, the number of
COVID-19 cases recorded in St. Vincent
and the Grenadines has increased
about five-fold, reaching 494 up to a
week ago.
Of those, 359 were detected among
residents with no recent travel history,
two of whom have died. Both deceased
are said to have had pre-existing conditions.
Recently, the World Health Organization
(WHO) changed St. Vincent and
the Grenadine’s COVID-19 status, saying
the country was having community
transmission of the virus.
However, the government had
objected to this classification, trig-
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Barbados to institute lockdown
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