 Welcome to NTN Nightly. I am Genelle Norville, this edition's top stories. The transition from the Victoria Hospital to the Owen King EU Hospital complete. St. Lucia records five new cases of the coronavirus and the government of St. Lucia ramps up efforts in the fight against COVID-19. Hello and thank you for joining us as we bring you the latest developments. It has finally happened the Owen King EU Hospital is fully open to the public. More in this report from Glenn Simon. Well, it's now official and there was no holding back the elation and emotions of staff as they ended one chapter to begin another. Victoria Hospital has officially transitioned to the OK EU Hospital. Even the Minister for Health could not hold back her sense of relief. I feel elated. I really feel elated today. I went to Victoria Hospital this morning and, you know, I saw the ambulances coming and going picking up patients and, you know, back and forth. And it was really, really, you know, refreshing. It was exciting. It was just, you know, I just felt it's almost like you feel liberated that now we are out of Victoria Hospital and we are into our new hospital, our OK EU. President of the Solution Nurses Association, Alicia Baptiste, said this move left her nurses with beta-sweet emotions. Because most of us were trained at Victoria Hospital and it is our home for many, many years. So leaving it this morning, for me, it was really, really deja vu. But let me just say on behalf of our nurses that this is a move well overdue. An energetic and highly motivated staff, decked out in their respective team colours, were busily implementing the action plan. They were first blessed, provided with breakfast and had a rainbow to guide their day. You have the different teams. You have the transport team. You have the command teams. And then you have the teams who will be actually moving the patients. So we're very happy this morning and we are ready to go. We are very happy about this move. We have waited a long time for it and we are going to make it work. It will work and things will improve. With the suspension of elective surgeries and outpatient clinics, VH had its smallest census of patients with only 45 patients to be transferred to the OK EU H. The move was successfully coordinated via a command and sequencing centre manned at the Victoria Hospital with a sub-command post at the OK EU Hospital. This is the command centre at the Owen King EU Hospital and what we do here, we are responsible for ensuring that the patients are received safely and triaged to their appropriate ward and bed. So once the patient has left Victoria Hospital, Sister Octav will get a phone call informing her that the patients left and we then inform the wards here and the command post when the patient arrives. So if there are any issues on ground, it is channeled up to us here in the command centre and if there's need for external support from Ministry of Health or other services or agencies, we also contact them externally to come on board to ensure that the move is successful. We determine which patient goes next. This sequencing centre was managed by nursing director Ruf Regis Adesanya who orchestrated the overall move. She said the move was guided by the international criteria for patient move. So for the past two days, we've been doing assessments of all of the patients to be moved and to determine how we sequence them. What we've done is we've ensured that the hospital, whether it's Victoria Hospital or OK EUH, is not overwhelmed so we're only sending out from one unit only one patient at a time and receiving on any unit one patient at a time. By 12 noon on the move day, 22 of the 45 patients were already transferred to the OK EU. It's been going very well, exactly to plan. I know other persons but we would be under pressure and look like we're ready to crumble and you don't see that at all. So all of the years of planning and training has actually paid off. The Owen King EU Hospital has now experienced many firsts from the first patients in ICU, on the wards and in A&E. The first babies in the special care baby unit, the first surgery and the proud mother Daria Peter gives birth to the OK EU's first bouncing baby boy, Darian Owen Peter. As a mark of respect, nurses lined the hallway at the OK EU to show respect to sister Ruth Regis Addisanya for her remarkable leadership in planning and executing the successful transitioning effort. Reporting for the Ministry of Health and Wellness, I am Glenn Simon. St. Lucia has recorded five new cases of COVID-19, one of which confirms the existence of local transmission of the virus in St. Lucia. Prime Minister of St. Lucia, the Honourable Alan Chastney during a press conference aired on NTN on Sunday 29th March 2020, urged members of the public to stay indoors and continue protocol as stipulated by the Department of Health and Wellness for their own safety and the safety of their loved ones. Anise Antoine has the details. On Sunday, March 29th 2020, the Israelong Laboratory at the Owen King EU Hospital reported a total of five new cases of COVID-19. This now brings the total number of cases recorded nationally to nine cases. Case one is a 24-year-old female with travel history to New York. She was quarantined at home and presented at our facility on March 27th. Case two is a 45-year-old female with travel history to New York who presented to our health facility on March 24th. Case three is a 47-year-old female with recent travel history to Barbados and Dominica. She presented at the health facility on March 27th. Case four is a 36-year-old male who had travel history to Barbados and presented to our health facility on March 27th. Case five is a 74-year-old female with no travel history, unknown contact with an individual with travel history. She presented at our facility on March 27th. Chief Medical Officer Dr Sharon Belma George noted that Case five points to the existence of local transmission of COVID-19. Aggressive tracing of the contacts of these cases is currently underway by health teams dispatched to the communities of interest. The Ministry of Health has observed that all of these cases were captured through our community respiratory clinics. This highlights the usefulness and effectiveness of these clinics and streamline COVID cases to care in a timely manner. As of the week of March 23rd, St. Lucia commenced national testing for COVID-19. This reduces our reliance on the Caribbean Public Health Agency for testing. Achieving this national capacity has allowed the review and adapting of our national testing protocol to widen the number of persons being tested as well as to shorten the period of time within which results are received. In an effort to better position St. Lucia to respond to COVID-19, the national healthcare system has been adapted to allow for a more robust system. The 311 hotline is now available to provide general information on COVID-19 and access points for care and support. As of Monday, March 30th, the service will be made available for seven days a week and shall function from 7 a.m. to midnight daily. The Prime Minister of St. Lucia, Hon. Alan Shah's name made an appeal to the public to abide by the measures being put in place. Corona does not discriminate. There are many young people dying from this as they are elderly people. And we can't continue to believe that we're immune from what corona offers us. And some of us are, but there are many of us who are not. And the only way that we're going to defeat corona for now is by self-quarantining and by practicing social distancing. Now, the Prime Minister of Singapore put it extremely well this morning when he said the off-ramp to corona hasn't been found yet. That what we're all attempting to do in the world is to flatten the curve, slow down the introduction of cases in order to allow our very capable and very brave medical staff to treat you. The Prime Minister also noted that an additional 11 respirators have been purchased to aid in battling the COVID-19 outbreak. Persons with flu-like symptoms can access care at their closest respiratory clinics. The five existing respiratory clinics are at the Grizzly Polyclinic, the Lacklery Wellness Centre, the Viewfort Wellness Centre, the Denver Hospital and the Souffre Hospital. Clinic services are available at the Victoria and St. Jude's Hospitals and this is to be utilized by persons with respiratory issues requiring care outside the normal hours of operations at the clinics within the community. From the Government Information Service I am Anisia Antoine reporting. This is NTN Nightly. Stay with the broadcast. We'll be right back. Wash them right With soap and lots of water Get between fingers Get under the nails Go above the wrists Do this for no less than 15 seconds Rinse properly Try with a clean towel If there is no water Do the same washing motions with an alcohol-based hand sanitizer containing at least 70% alcohol Wash your hands Wash them right This message brought to you courtesy the Bureau of Health Education of the Ministry of Health and Wellness. Welcome back. Amidst the confirmation of local transmission of COVID-19 in St. Lucia, Prime Minister the Honourable Alan Shasne has implemented several new measures. This disclosure was made at a press conference aired on NTN on Sunday 29th March 2020. The Prime Minister explained that the move was necessary to ensure the safety of all St. Lucia's. Acting Police Commissioner Milton Daisy assured the public that members of the Royals in Lucia Police Force would be out in full force ensuring strict adherence to the new stipulations. More in this report. The confirmed case of a 74-year-old female with no travel history or known contact with an individual with travel history according to Chief Medical Officer in the Department of Health and Wellness, Dr. Sharon Belmar George points to the existence of local transmission of COVID-19 in St. Lucia. Prime Minister the Honourable Alan Shasne cognizant of this and noting that a number of individuals have not been following the required protocols has implemented new measures. I have to say to all of us that I don't think any of us would be surprised when I say to you that we have not done a good job of making sure that we're all doing the right things. I mean the government has made the resources has put all of the laws in place has increased the number of policemen out in the field but many of us have just refused to adhere. There are still examples of people going to bars. There are still examples of people going in crowds to the beaches. There are many operations that have continued to operate flaunting what was required by the government. So this afternoon I have to announce that we are going to have to put more stringent regulations in place. So one, we are going to extend the curfew which was from 11 to 5 o'clock in the morning 11 o'clock at night to 5 o'clock in the morning and as of tomorrow it will be from 8 o'clock at night until 5 o'clock in the morning. Secondly, that we're going to extend the period of quarantine which was due to end around April 5th we're now going to extend it to April 14th. And the third part to this is that we're going to suspend all liquor licenses in the country and so anyone who is going to be operating a bar or a restaurant other than a drive through or take out will be in breach of the law. With me is the commissioner of police and he'll be speaking shortly but I've asked him to strengthen his staff and also their level of tolerance. And again I'm appealing to solutions one more time. This is for you. This is for all of us. Acting commissioner of police, Milton Daisy said it will not be business as usual. Police have warned you and the coming week is not a time for warning and serious about it persons will be arrested. The prime minister has assured me that the fines would be put in place as of tomorrow so persons would be... I am not in a position to say what fine it is that would come from cabinet however I could assure you that you can be arrested from tomorrow there would be at a minimum of 72 hours in and please note also that the magistrate the court is not sitting however we have access to the magistrate who has the power to extend your stay in the police station. The custody suite that is at central police station is available. I have ordered that it be empty so that persons who were arrested and were in there have been taken to Babono, Marsha and Grozile police station just to make that space available for persons who feel to comply. I must report that on Friday that is past Friday at 2 am two persons were arrested in Grozile for feeling to comply with the curfew. They had been charged and were granted bail however I could assure you that in the coming days it would not be so easy. The acting commissioner also explained that a number of measures have been taken by the police. I must also report that one Vesla boat had been seized by the marine police. I commend them for for such action and that boat is impounded with them. I must also report that the police we were busy going out there in search of persons that had come in from neighboring matnik and who had skipped well. Obviously they came in unlawfully and therefore were not in quarantine. We have since brought in some of those individuals into quarantine and I must inform also that we have put together two extraction teams made up of 10 individuals, one in the north and one team in the south and this team would be working directly with the Ministry of Health in identifying persons and then taking them into quarantine. These officers are fully equipped with their face mask, their body suits, gloves hand sanitizers. So everything that is necessary to prevent that spread and these officers I must also inform you that they are from the SSU department. Members of the public are urged to abide by the new measures put in place, not only for their safety but for the safety of all. For the Government Information Service, I am General Norville. That brings us to the end of NTN Nightly. Join us next time at 7pm before we repeat at 7am. You can also catch up with us anytime on the St. Lucia Government Facebook page or YouTube channel. I am General Norville.