CARIBBEAN ROUNDUP
BAHAMAS
The Bahamas government has lifted
the travel ban on Haiti and Cuba imposed
on the two Caribbean countries.
Flights have recently resumed to Haiti
and Cuba.
The announcement was made by the
prime minister’s press secretary, Clint
Watson, who said the airline Bahamasair
had returned its flights to Haiti.
He said there would be two flights
per week — one to Cap
Haitien and the other to
Port-au-Prince, which
will be on Saturdays.
There will be four
flights to Cuba every
week.
The original ban on Haiti in February
was explained as a decision to block
travelers for three weeks as Haiti celebrated
Carnival.
At the time, few countries in the region
had begun vaccination campaigns.
The Bahamas received its first tranche
of vaccines in early March, along with
many countries in the region.
Haiti was left behind in the global and
regional campaign effort.
The impoverished nation has yet to
vaccinate more than one percent of its
population.
Watson said the Bahamas has fully
vaccinated over 40 percent of its population,
less than two percent of Haiti’s
population has been vaccinated.
BARBADOS
The Barbados government has relaxed
the hours of curfew that was imposed in
the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In making the announcement, Prime
Minister Mia Mottley said the curfew
will be moved from 9 pm (local time) to
midnight starting from
midnight on Monday,
Nov. 15.
The prime minister
said that following
consultant with various stakeholders it
has been agreed that the curfew hours
will be shortened and reviewed every
four weeks during which persons will be
encouraged to be vaccinated and maintain
the protocols.
She said the easing of the curfew is
no excuse for people to abandon in particular
mask wearing or the other things
that are necessary to keep safe.
Mottley told reporters that the concessions
regarding the curfew are in
response to several requests from across
the country.
CARIBBEAN
As several Caribbean countries battle
their highest rates of COVID-19 — Trinidad
and Tobago has the highest rates of
infection and deaths — the Pan American
Health Organization (PAHO) said 29
percent of the CARICOM population is at
Caribbean Life, D 4 ecember 10-16, 2021
The Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Amor Mottley speaks during the opening ceremony of the COP26 U.N. Climate Summit, in
Glasgow, Scotland, Monday, Nov. 1, 2021. The U.N. climate summit in Glasgow gathers leaders from around the world, in Scotland’s
biggest city, to lay out their vision for addressing the common challenge of global warming. Associated Press/Alberto Pezzali/File
a higher risk of developing severe strains
of the disease.
It is the consequence of these Caribbean
citizens having at least one underlying
health condition.
At PAHO’s recent press briefing on
COVID-19 in the Americas recently, Incident
Manager for COVID-19, Dr. Sylvain
Aldighieri said the data shows that
comorbidities are factors associated with
severity.
He said based on studies, PAHO knows
that 22 percent or approximately 145
million people in Latin
America and the Caribbean
have underlying
health conditions.
“Regarding the Caribbean
countries that
are part of the Caribbean community:
CARICOM, where we have observed the
highest prevalence of cardiovascular diseases,
including hypertension, diabetes
mellitus and chronic kidney disease, the
estimation of the Pan American Health
Organization, in collaboration with the
London School of Medicine and Tropical
Medicine, is that we have up to 29 percent
of the population with at least one
underlying condition, therefore being
risk of severe COVID-19,” he said.
The PAHO incident manager noted
that while many of the Caribbean’s larger
islands are experiencing a downward
trend, smaller islands such as St. Kitts
and Nevis, Barbados, Anguilla and St.
Vincent and the Grenadines are now
reporting their highest number of infections
and related deaths.
GUYANA
The Guyana government has expressed
concern about the influx of Venezuelan
migrants at the Port of Kaktuma, east of
the capital Georgetown.
According to reports, scores of Amerindians
including children may have
entered the Guyanese territory from a
neighboring village in Venezuela in poor
health and without food.
Several government agencies with
a presence in the region have already
responded with emergency interventions,
providing immediate medical and
food relief.
As an additional measure, the government
said a ministerial team of central
responders departed from the city for
Port Kaituma with additional supplies.
The team will coordinate with other
stakeholders that have been involved in
collaborative work to ensure a holistic
intervention.
In a statement
recently, the government
said that it
remains mindful of its
humanitarian obligations
to migrants and have been actively
engaged in sustained efforts to deliver
food and medical relief across the regions
where migration into Guyana is taking
place.
JAMAICA
Jamaican company Medicanja has got
a major boost with an investment of
US$15 million from US investor Noble
Capital Fund and Dr. Trevor Hamilton
Minister of Industry, Investment and
Commerce, Audley Shaw said this was
part of a US$100 million investment the
fund will make in Jamaican projects over
the next three years.
Speaking at a media briefing, Shaw
said this will enable
Jamaica to access the
global pharmaceutical
market, which was valued
at US$417.66 billion
in 2020 and is expected to grow at
8.9 percent from 2020-2028,
He said the US$15 million will create
more than 200 jobs in the short term and
will deliver over US$10 million in annual
exports.
Founded in 2013 by Dr. Henry Lowe,
Medicanja is Jamaica’s first cannabis
company and has 10 patents pending
with the Jamaica Intellectual Property
Office and 12 pharmaceutical products
approved by the Jamaica Ministry of
Health.
ST. KITTS
The International Monetary fund
(IMF) said the impact of the COVID-19
pandemic on the economy of St. Kitts
and Nevis had been “severe.”
After concluding Article IV consulta-
Continued on Page 20
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