CARIBBEAN ROUNDUP
ANTIGUA
A 49-year-old “fully vaccinated ” man
died at the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre
(SLBMC) nearly two months after he
was admitted to the health institution,
as other Caribbean Community (CARICOM)
countries registered more deaths
linked to the COVID-19 virus.
SLBMC Medical Director, Dr. Albert
Duncan said a patient who was tested
positive for COVID-19 has died at the at
the SLBMC recently.
He was “fully vaccinated.”
As a result, Antigua
and Barbuda has
recorded so far 99
deaths and close to 4,000 positive cases
linked to the virus since the first case
was detected in March last year.
Trinidad and Tobago has recorded
more than 1,700 deaths just about 58,
000 positive cases since the first case
was detected in March last year.
BARBADOS
The Barbados government has
announced plans for the establishment
of safe zones as the island continues
to be impacted by the COVID-19 virus
that has claimed so far 145 deaths and
more than 16,000 cases since March
last year.
Prime Minister Mia Mottley, in a
radio and television broadcast recently
said that her administration had decided
against further lockdowns and that it
was now necessary to protect those who
are talking the vaccine.
“The realty is that we are satisfied
that we need now at this stage to
start the process of the creation of safe
zones. We need to have places where
persons are either vaccinated or recently
tested,” she said.
Mottley said the
creation of those safe
zones will first target
care workers in the
first instance, followed by frontline
workers, along with those in the tourism
and education sectors.
She said the government is hoping
that over a period of time, people
employed in the restaurant and entertainment
sectors, as well as worshipers,
will be included in the creation of safe
zones.
The prime minister said that officials
were satisfied that they need to start the
process of creating safe zones, where
persons were either vaccinated or frequently
tested.
Mottley said the process of establishing
safe zones would be led by the Ministry
of Health and Wellness.
CARIBBEAN
The International Monetary Fund
(IMF) said the first economic policy
for Caribbean countries hard hit by
Caribbean Life, N 4 OVEMBER 12-18, 2021
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley speaks during the opening ceremony of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in
Glasgow, Scotland, Britain Nov. 1, 2021. Jeff J Mitchell/Pool via REUTERS
the COVID-19 virus is to improve
health conditions and accelerate vaccination
campaigns to bring the pandemic
under control.
Acting IMF’s Western Hemisphere
Director, Nigel Chalk said increased
access vaccination would save lives, prevent
new variants from emerging and
hasten the recovery.
He said to bolster credibility, spending
in those areas will
need to be couched
within a transparent
medium-term fiscal
framework and in
some cases, will need
to be offset by greater efficiency in
spending in other areas.
He agreed that the “pandemic has hit
hard the population in many countries,”
given that the economies of many Caribbean
countries are highly dependent
on tourism and are currently sorting
out the appropriate timing and scale of
unwinding the extraordinary COVID-19
pandemic.
The IMF official said countries needed
to think fast and act fast.
Chalk noted that energy and food
prices have risen sharply in 2021 and
that Caribbean countries are still facing
high debt and pleading for concessions
as they seek to survive in the near and
medium term.
GUYANA
A union that represents workers in
the oil and gas sector has expressed
concern over the number of foreigners
being employed in the industry.
In a statement, the Guyana Agriculture
and General Workers Union
(GAWU) said it was shocked to learn
that foreigners continue to penetrate
the local oil industry and are being
given preference over Guyanese workers
.A
ccording to the union, while there
are reports that Guyanese are not qualified
to do certain jobs within the
sector, work which Guyanese workers
can undertake are also being given to
foreigners.
GAWU reminded that Guyanese are
competent and skilled enough to be
given jobs in the oil sector.
Recently, several government ministers
implored oil companies
to hire sugar
workers who were displaced.
The union complained
that foreign workers are reportedly
benefiting from housing, subsistence
and other allowances while
local workers are not provided with the
same.
HAITI
The United Nations Children’s Fund
(UNICEF) has warned that the number
of children and women abducted in
Haiti up to the end of August has
already surpassed last year’s total.
According to UNICEF Regional
Director for Latin America and the Caribbean,
Jean Gough,
“nowhere is safe for
children in Haiti anymore.”
UNICEF estimated,
based on official sources, that 71
women and 40 children were abducted
in the first eight months of this year,
up from 59 women and 37 children last
year.
The number represents one-third of
the 455 kidnappings reported, UNICEF
said.
It said most of the kidnappings are
taking place in the capital city of Portau
Prince and most abductees are Haitian.
Since June, UNICEF said gang violence
in the area has displaced 19,000
people and affected 1.5 million.
In the first half of October alone, 119
people were abducted, UNICEF said.
On Oct. 16, it noted that 17 missionaries
from the USA and Canada were
kidnapped.
Continued on Page 16
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