 Welcome to NTN Nightly. I am Jesse Leance. This edition's top stories, Prime Minister Hon. Alan Chassney encourages students to aim high as the new academic year opens. The Rehabilitation Centre turning point raises concern over substance abuse amid the challenges of COVID-19 and rural women farmers take the lead on by local, eat local. Students of Miku South that performed outstandingly in the common entrance examinations have been rewarded by Parliamentary Representative Prime Minister Hon. Alan Chassney during an award ceremony. Prime Minister Hon. Alan Chassney made good on his promise to the top common entrance achievers of his constituency, delivering 24 laptops and tablets for handover at the Miku South top achievers award ceremony. The 2020 top performer from each primary school in the constituency received a laptop. They are Keegan Samuel of the Blusha Combined School, Joshua DeRoz of DeRusso Combined, and T. Rocher's Angeline Baptiste who attained the highest score in the constituency. 18 Alcatel tablets were awarded to the next six top performers from each of the three schools. I just want to say to all of you that you've become leaders. You've become examples in your community. And every day you need to hold your head high and be very proud about what you achieved. And I certainly wish I was your age because the opportunities for you are going to be endless. Your life is no longer confined to St. Lucia. We need to live in a global economy. And these computers that we've given you are now the porthole to a whole new world. So learn to use them well, take care of them, and enjoy, and continue to do the outstanding work that you're doing on behalf of your parents and your teachers. Congratulations. The 2019 Common Entrance Top Performers from each primary school in the constituency also received their laptops during this ceremony. Principal of the Blusha Combined School, Merle Langley Emmanuel thanked Honorable Shasny for equipping the outgoing students with the devices given the new modality introduced by the Ministry of Education. So on behalf of the principals, staff, parents, and students of the Thirusha Combined School, the Thirusha Combined School, and the Blusha Combined School, I say thank you to our Honorable Prime Minister for donating the electronic devices that we know are so necessary at this time. This is especially so as schools intend to utilize the blended learning approach in teaching. I also want to thank you, Honorable Prime Minister, for the donation of hand sanitizers, face masks, and thermometers. This will support us in implementing and managing our plans to ensure the safety of all our staff and students in this COVID-19 environment. Principals, our load has become lighter as we are now better equipped to implement those plans. I am certain that our anxiety level has gone down a notch. And let me tell you, I went by MNC to price one of those thermometers, and they told me $150. And I was like, wow, how do I manage to get two, three of them? And now we are getting them. So we appreciate, we appreciate that. Mrs. Jody Chastney, mother of Honorable Allen Chastney, also donated book bags, lunch bags, and other school supplies to the three schools for underprivileged students. For the Government Information Service, I am Jesse Leons reporting. The 48-year-old and national who was found unresponsive in her room at one of the government quarantine sites on Sunday, August 23, 2020, is still being managed at the Owen King EU Hospital. However, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sharon Belmar George says her condition is not linked to COVID-19. In fact, St. Lucia has recorded yet again a 100% recovery of COVID-19 patients. There have been a total of 26 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and zero deaths to date. The last case recorded on Tuesday, August 18, 2020, was of a 32-year-old female who traveled from the United States. She has recovered fully, both clinically and with negative tests. As we continue to open new sectors such as education, the public is advised to take personal responsibility to protect themselves and their family. We continue to increase surveillance to reduce the risks such as illegal entry at the borders, breaches to home quarantine, and non-adherence to protocol. The public is advised that protocols are still in place. These include the use of face masks in public, maintaining a safe physical distance from others, and to avoid mass crowd gatherings. We appeal to everyone to continue supporting our national efforts to minimize the threat of COVID-19 on our island. The five respiratory clinics remain open to facilitate anyone with respiratory signs and symptoms and the 311 hotline is also available where concerns and questions can be addressed. We continue to advise on the importance of maintaining the standard recommendations for infection prevention and control, which include regular hand washing if soap and water or the use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers, also to cover your mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing. A total of 5,542 tests have been conducted to date. And meanwhile, health officials are urging St. Lucians to reach out for help if they are finding difficulty in coping with the pressures of life which have been further compounded by COVID-19. Rajavar Lawrence tells us more. Given COVID anxieties, officials are concerned that sections of the public may rely on alcohol and drugs to cope. As such, an appeal is being issued to individuals confronted with alcohol and drug abuse to seek help at the 13-point Rehabilitation Center. Director Robert Huggins outlined the cultural and social context for the rate of alcohol use in our society. He said that the influence begins at an early age when children associate alcohol with adulthood and festivity. As a young person, necessarily three years old or something, so you have your birthday party, your friends and family over, usually you have your parents have their own section of the party where they have their adult drinks and whatnot. So we grew up with this mentality almost. We see it every day at every occasion that when adults get together, they have alcohol. When we get older and as we start to go out, we start to demand alcohol as part of our experience in order to say that we have a good time. And when things have to go bad, we say, well, this is what we need for things to go right. So we turn to it. And I'm not saying this is the only reason that person said to have it. But it's one of the major concerns that we have in our society. According to Huggins, alcohol abuse disorder continues to dominate cases registered at the facility followed by marijuana and crack cocaine. Those are the three that we typically get. It's very rare that we get anything beyond that. No many people come for tobacco treatment, but when they come, they might, you know, they might also smoke tobacco. But nobody presents to be treated for tobacco, more or less. And occasionally you get somebody who might use the drugs like amethystamphetamines or these symptoms are very rare. But to be perfectly honest, it's strictly alcohol number one. Then you have your marijuana use disorder and then your crack cocaine use. The turning point rehabilitation program is based on a biopsychosocial model with a spiritual element. Huggins says operations have been adjusted due to the pandemic, but are still accommodating those who need rehabilitation. Unfortunately now because of the COVID protocols on the size of our compound, we have to limit the numbers that we can take in at any one time. So we only take in four clients at a time and we have a bit of a waiting list as persons have to wait for a space to open up to be able to come in. The Turning Point Rehabilitation Center is located at the Millennium Heights Medical Complex. For more information, call 453-1087. From the Government Information Service, Rajvaro Lawrence reporting. The recently held local farmers market featuring rural women farmers has been hailed a success. The farmers market was held in Miku under the campaign slogan, buy local, eat local. The Government of St. Lucia in partnership with the Government of the Republic of China Taiwan has provided support to the Rural Women Farmers Network, Minister for Education, Innovation, Gender Relations, Sustainable Development and Parliamentary Representative for Miku North, Honourable Dr. Gail Rigbert welcomes the strides made by women farmers. They've got chocolates, honey, locally made condom, watermelon, mangoes. I did help myself to some mangoes. But more importantly, these women have proven that over the years they've been able to sustain themselves through farming and through agro-processing. We continue to work very closely with them and the Department of Education, Innovation and Gender Relations is continuing its efforts to secure resources to assist our rural women and you'll be hearing more about this in the coming weeks. We're basically trying to get farmers to come together to promote local eating for the public and healthy eating as well. We would get farmers with local produce like watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew also agro-processed goods as well. We, the farmers in St. Lucia, we can produce so many things. We need to see that the things we are importing most of them we can produce them right here in St. Lucia. This will help to boost up our economy. I think it's a very good initiative. As we know, we're supposed to support local and with all this COVID pandemic, with the COVID pandemic, we know that sometimes we may not be able to import all that we want. So supporting local should be the way to go and it will allow our monies to remain right here in the country. The Ministry of Infrastructure ports energy and labour informs residents of Jetwin and all road users of the closure of the Jetwin Road to facilitate construction of a triple circular culvert crossing. The road will be closed from Thursday, September 3, 2020 for a period of three weeks residents and all road users are encouraged to use the Grace Road in Jiro as an alternative route. Drivers are particularly urged to travel with due caution as this bypass road is narrow. The Ministry of Infrastructure ports energy and labour apologizes for any inconvenience caused. In one other public announcement, the Accountant General's Department has informed that the Viewfort sub-accountants office presently housed at the Chittoli building at Beanfield Viewfort will be closed from Tuesday, September 1, 2020 to Friday, September 4, 2020. This closure is to facilitate the relocation of the office to new premises on the second floor of the Pilty Building on New Dog Road, Viewfort. Any assistance required during this closure can be obtained from the main office at the Diana Building castries at 468-3900. The Denry sub-accountants office also at 453-3325 or the Miku sub-accountants office at 454-4353. The Accountant General's Department regrets any inconvenience this may have caused and looks forward to resuming service on Monday, September 7, 2020. Up next, Primus Hutchinson with the NTN-Nouvelle Aquial. In an effort to ensure patient and first responder safety, the St. Lucia Fire Service has reviewed its patient transfer procedures especially for patients with respiratory distress. Face masks will be provided. At no time during transportation should the face mask be removed. Please be patient and cooperative during this time to ensure you receive the best possible care while keeping our first responders safe. Welcome back. We join Primus Hutchinson for the NTN-Nouvelle Aquial. The NECA, which has been registered since the 18th hour of 2020 except for you, Madame, from all over the world who have traveled to America, is a result of which I have found great results and all the results are negative. According to the department, all the results of the coronavirus which has been registered have great results and for the patients it is possible to record the death of the coronavirus in a total of 5,660 cases. For you, Madame, who have traveled to the Netherlands and who have discovered a chamber to dance in the institution of the government which was called Percognizance that was the 23rd of August, 2020. The hospital is still in the hospital. There is still a condition of the death of the coronavirus. I would like to ask the public to consider and accept their responsibility personally to protect the health of the people who live in the education sector. I would like to ask the public to continue to make efforts to reduce the risk of COVID-19 to protect exchange security with people who are not paid illegally to prevent the spread of COVID-19. I would like to ask the public to consider and accept their responsibility personally to protect exchange security with people who are not paid illegally to protect exchange security with people who are not paid illegally to protect exchange security with people who are not paid illegally to protect exchange security with people who are not paid illegally to protect exchange security with people who are not paid illegally to protect exchange security with people who are not paid illegally to protect exchange security with people who are not paid illegally to protect exchange security with people who are not paid illegally to protect exchange security with people who are not paid illegally to protect exchange security with people who are not paid illegally I found a whole wisp of the dengue fever. The dengue came from the mangrove, from Egypt, from the point of view of the dead, exposed to the public. We were educated, we worked hard, we played hard. The end of my life, I don't know what's going to happen. So, I think that all of us here have a wisp of the dengue fever. So, all of us here have a wisp of the dengue fever. We have to be careful to protect ourselves from the cold, to ensure that we have a wisp of the dengue fever to spread this place out. This is a very important thing. We have a place called Blokaché Bay. We are going to destroy this place. We have a wisp of the dengue fever. But the government doesn't know what to do with it. We are going to do something. We are going to protect ourselves and protect the people. So, we are going to encourage the public to do the same thing as much as we can in order to protect ourselves and the people. So, we encourage people to serve our mosquitos, our migrants to protect the people to prevent our migrants from dying. So, we are going to have a different place where we can put our blood on our long-distance skin and long pants to protect the people. We can also serve as a repellent to protect the quality to prevent the migrants from dying. That's important. It's a very important thing. But we are going to do the same thing. We are going to protect our migrants from dying. We are going to protect our places to help the migrants to multiply their places to make a bridge to protect our migrants. We can also help the migrants to travel to long-distance skin and long-distance skin to protect the migrants to protect their people. So, this appeal to the whole Central Asian community to work together. This is not a disease that we all respect. It's a disease that we all have a risk and I'm certain that I'm the one who got sick. Because if I die, I'm not going to get sick because I'm sick. We all have a sick salary. That's why we all go to a point of damage to protect our children and our families. It's a health service that is used for various diseases in the Ministry of Health. That's primary health care. It's a public effort that clinics for diseases that are available, only in Mequery, from 8 a.m. to 7 a.m. to 7 a.m. to 7 a.m. On September 2, it was in the SDE church in Dennerie. On September 9, it was in the Kayawalda Centre. On September 16, it was in the Rissa Centre in Monchi. On September 23, it was in the Centre in Jackmel. On September 23, it was in the Centre in Viefour. Everyone who needed a health service, who was able to take care of their children, and to obey their parents, and provide them with three facilities, I suppose, to wash their hands and serve them as a sanitizer. On November 12, I would like to thank other people for their invitation. I would like to thank all of you, and thank you very much for all of the news. Thank you. I would like to thank Jesse. Thank you for joining us, signing off for now. Do stay tuned for more NTM programming.