CARIBBEAN ROUNDUP
Antigua
Antigua and Barbuda will welcome
its first international flight on June 4
since the island shut its borders as part
of efforts to curb the spread of the novel
coronavirus.
Minister for Tourism,
Charles Fernandez
speaking during a virtual
meeting on “Reopening
Antigua and
Barbuda for Tourism” recently said an
American Airlines flight from Miami is
due to land on June 4, bringing the first
set of passengers in 10 weeks.
He said it will mark the start of a slow,
phased recovery for the sector and is set
to be followed by the Trinidad-based Caribbean
Airlines (CAL) in mid-June and
British Airways in July.
Fernandez said the island would be
seeking to ensure international confidence
in the country’s ability to keep
people safe, and that starving off a second
wave of infections will prove critical.
He noted that tourism officials had
been hard at work for weeks so they can”
hit the ground running.”
The authorities have not yet
announced the date for the reopening
of VC Bird International Airport, but
visitors may have to undergo a COVID-19
test at least 48 hours before boarding the
flight, among other proposed measures.
Barbados
The Barbados Ambassador to the
United Nations, Liz Thompson, has
tested positive for the coronavirus disease
(COVID-19), according to an official
statement issued by the Ministry of
Health and Wellness.
It said the diplomat
had returned to Barbados
recently from New
York, which is the epic
center of the Covid outbreak
in the United States.
“Ms. Thompson arrived on a private
jet and was tested at Paragon immediately
after her arrival. We received information
that her test was positive. There
was one other passenger on the plane
on which the ambassador traveled. That
passenger was also tested, that test is
negative,” the statement said.
It said Thompson had come to Barbados
to be at the bedside of her 95-yearold
mother, who became gravely ill with
a heart condition, a non-covid-related
condition.
“The Ministry of Health will continue
to deal with the situation, as it has all
other cases in Barbados, Ambassador
Thompson and her family are cooperating
fully with the ministry,” it said.
Bahamas
The Bahamas government said it was
looking at the possibility of allowing
Caribbean L 4 ife, June 5-11, 2020
commercial travel on or before July 1,
but said the date was not final and that
would depend on the current state of
COVID-19 in the country.
The Bahamas has recorded 96 positive
cases, with 11 deaths.
In a radio broadcast
recently, Prime Minister
Dr. Hubert Minnis
said that as the country
continues to make
progress in its efforts to curb the spread
of the virus, it would act on the advice
of health officials “on the phased and
gradual reopening of various islands and
certain areas of our economy for daily
life that will be with us for some time.”
“We must abide by regional and global
health protocols as we reopen our
economy and society if advised by heath
officials, we will return to certain phases
to re-impose certain restrictions in order
to limit community spread. We have to
balance the health, economic and social
needs of citizens and residents,” the
prime minister said.
Guyana
The United States based organization
the Carter Center has expressed its deep
disappointment over Guyana Government’s
decision not to approve its recent
requests to allow two observers to return
to the country to observe the ongoing
vote count.
In a statement, the Carter Center said
the Elections Commission has consistently
confirmed that the accreditation
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for the Carter Center and other international
observers remains valid as the
electoral process is still ongoing.
The Carter Center
said it acknowledges
the important role
being played during the
recount by the threeperson
CARICOM team, as well as that
of Guyanese national observers, political
party scrutineers, the Organization
of American States and the Commonwealth’s
technical advisor.
The Center said it fully respects Guyana’s
national sovereignty and its efforts
to strictly implement its COVID-19 emergency
measures as a matter of utmost
urgency.
It noted that in its formal requests, it
has indicated that it would abide by all
of the government’s COVID-19 protocols
including those that were applied to the
CARICOM team.
Jamaica
The International Monetary Fund
(IMF) has approved a US$520 million
disbursement to Jamaica under the
Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) to aid
with COVID-19 relief.
This is 100 percent of the allotted
amount that Jamaica can access.
In a statement the IMF, said these
funds will help meet “the urgent balance
of payment needs stemming from
the covid19 pandemic, while catalyzing
additional support from development
partners.”
The COVID-19 shock Jamaica only a
few months after the successful completion
of it precautionary stand-by
arrangement with the IMF, which was
underpinned by strong ownership and
civil oversight, the fund noted.
“Jamaica’s established
track record of
economic reforms has
created buffers that
are invaluable today in
responding to the COVID-19 crisis. Yet,
despite the authorities’ proactive mitigation
strategies the pandemic is significantly
impacting Jamaica’s economy,”
the statement said.
Jamaica is the hardest hit Englishspeaking
Caribbean country with 530
confirmed cases as of May 17.
The Jamaica government has declared
the entire island as a disaster area and
has established a special task force to
coordinate the country’s COVID-19
response.
St. Vincent
Police in St. Vincent and the Grenadines
have launched an investigation
into an explosion at a gas station in
Union Island, which claimed the lives of
three people recently.
Fire officers say it
took them five hours to
extinguish the fire and
that steam continued
to be emitted from the
ground up to 10 hours after the blaze
had destroyed the gas station and several
other buildings.
Those who died were Freddy Naert,
72, owner of Freddy’s Gas Station, and
14-year-old Lindani Neverson, who died
at the Cato Memorial Hospital in Kingstown.
Graniqua “Zara” Alexander, 17, a secondary
school student who was seriously
injured in the fire was flown to Trinidad
for medical treatment, but she later died
from severe burns about the body.
The St. Vincent government has
accepted an offer by Grenada to help with
the supply of fuel to Union Island after
the fire destroyed the sole petrol station.
St. Lucia
The St. Lucia government has defended
its decision to seek a four-month
extension of the state of emergency
(SoE), saying it allows for the authorities
to move swiftly between phases, especially
as the coronavirus evolves.
He said that having
examined the actions
of countries in the Caribbean
and internationally,
it is clear that an
SoE is the best mechanism in securing
timely and seamless execution of protocols
and guidelines.
Prime Minister Allen Chastanet said
Prime Minister of Bahamas Hubert Minnis addresses the 74th session
of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New
York, U.S., Sept. 27, 2019. REUTERS / Lucas Jackson, File
Continued on Page 8
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Bahamas phased opening
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