CARIBBEAN ROUNDUP
ANTIGUA
Prime Minister Gaston Browne has
warned that the time has come to take
tougher and more unpopular measures
to deal with the spread of the COVID-
19 that has so far killed 47 people and
infected 2,047 others since March last
year.
He hinted that his government may
implement a mandatory vaccination
policy for Antigua and Barbuda.
‘This is a very serious
issue. I have signaled
to the people of
Antigua and Barbuda
months ago that if we
have to make vaccination
mandatory in this country we
will do it. We are not afraid to do it,”
Browne told Parliament.
“There comes a time when we have
to stand alone and make decisions
in the national interest,” Browne
said noting that Cabinet had earlier
approved of a measure that all public
servants “must get vaccinated or get
tested twice monthly otherwise they
would not be eligible to enter the
workplace.”
The new policy would come into
effect from Oct. 1.
The government had earlier indicated
that only frontline workers would be
required to be vaccinated or to produce
twice-monthly COVID-19 tests.
BAHAMAS
Bahamas health authorities say
the Delta variant is the predominant
strain of the Covid-19 pandemic as the
country continues to grapple with the
impact of the virus that has killed 453
people and infected 19,139 others since
March last year.
The Ministry of
Health in a statement
said the results
received from the
FIOCRUZ Laboratory
in Brazil confirmed the presence of the
highly transmissible Delta variant.
It said that the National Reference
Laboratory had submitted 98 viruspositive
samples to the lab for genomic
sequencing.
The samples were collected between
May 6 and Aug. 8 this year from various
parts of the country.
According to the ministry 41 of the
cases were the Delta Delta variant,
while there were 39 cases of the Alpha
variant.
The Ministry said the health care
system is of both the public and private
sectors is now severely challenged
and over-burden and as a result non-
COVID-19 cases requiring health care
are at risk of not being able to access
life-saving health care.
BARBADOS
Trinidad and Tobago’s Minister of Health, Terrence Deyalsingh receives a vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in
Champs Fleur, Trinidad and Tobago April 6, 2021. REUTERS/Andrea de Silva
Barbadians have been warned
against selling COVID-19 vaccination
cards.
Caribbean Life, S 4 EPTEMBER 24-30, 2021
Coordinator of the National Vaccination
Program, Major David Clarke
has warned perpetrators that they face
prosecution as the
authorities reported
the sale of COVID-19
vaccination cards.
Clarke said the
Immunization Unit
had become aware that members of
the public were selling and purchasing
the blue vaccination cards, which have
been issued to those who have been
vaccinated.
He said the practice is illegal, and
that the Royal Barbados Police Force
is aware of the activity where the
cards are being sold for as much as
BDS$200.
Clarke said the practice is strictly
prohibited and anyone caught selling
the cards would be prosecuted.
He said the Blue cards were not only
free, but should be issued by a certified
healthcare professional to individuals
who have been vaccinated against the
virus, which has been blamed for the
deaths of 52 people and the infection
of 5,561 others.
CARIBBEAN
The first virtual Caribbean Youth
Parliament to discuss climate justice
gets underway on Sept. 23 with delegates
representing 10 Caribbean countries.
A statement from the Caribbean
Climate Justice Project (CCJP) said
the event is being held in collaboration
with the Caribbean Regional
Youth Council and will be attended by
representatives from Antigua and Barbuda,
Barbados, Belize, The Bahamas,
Cayman Islands, Dominica, Jamaica,
Haiti, and Guyana.
The organizers said in a statement
that a total of
167 applications were
received from youths
across the Caribbean
to participate in the
Parliament, which is meant to draw
attention to the impact of climate
change from the perspective of the
youths.
The CCJP says it seeks to educate
and inform of the threats posed to
lives and livelihoods in the Caribbean
by climate change and to catalyze
action on the necessary responses at
the household, community, national
and regional levels.
It said that the virtual regional parliament
will take place a day before the
scheduled Global Climate Strike.
The resolution that is passed in the
Youth Parliament will be submitted to
the Guyana-based CARICOM Secretariat,
the St. Lucia-based Organization
of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS)
Commission and the Belize-based Caribbean
Community Climate Change
Center.
GRENADA
Concerns have been mounting
among security officials in Grenada
following reports that
approximately 20 percent
of officers in the
Royal Grenada Police
Force (RGPF) are
now infected with the
COVID-19 virus and as a result, some
officers have been working in shifts of
up to 16 hours a day.
Continued on Page 18
THE NEWS FROM BACK HOME
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