 Welcome to NTI Nightly, I am General Norvel. This edition stops stories. The health and wellness minister assures that the state of emergency is necessary to protect the citizenry. Alternative options being considered as a peace officer program comes to an end and the Rotary Club of St. Lucia collaborates with the seeds international program to aid those in need. Minister for Health and Wellness, Senator Hon. Mary Isaac during the sitting of Senate held on Thursday highlighted the need for the extension of the state of emergency. She explained that with an average of 100 new COVID-19 cases being recorded weekly, the country cannot afford to relax current COVID-19 protocols. One such protocol is the implementation of a curfew which Senator Hon. Isaac indicated has assisted in curbing the spread of the coronavirus on Ireland. Madam President, there is absolutely no question as to whether or not we need that declaration of a state of emergency. We needed it when we set it then. We needed it when we extended on it the first time, the second time and we need it now. Maybe now more than ever Madam President as we are seeing that the numbers are declining or at least remain unstable. We are still getting about on average about 100 cases per week and that is still not satisfactory while it is better than where we were before. It is still not satisfactory. Not satisfactory enough for us to loosen up on the protocols that we have that currently exist which includes a curfew. Highlighting the worsening COVID-19 situation in other countries, the Minister explained that St. Lucia cannot become complacent just because active COVID-19 cases appear to be stabilizing. If you are on antibiotics Madam President for 10 days and you start taking it and getting better after the fourth day you are much better. Madam President do you stop? You have to continue because the end result is to get rid of whatever it is that is in your system and you require the 10 days of taking the antibiotics to do so. COVID-19 is still with us Madam President. It is because of the measures that we have put in place that we are seeing some sort of I don't even want to call it relief Madam President because it's just that the numbers seem to be remaining stable, declining a little and remaining stable. So this is just a semblance of a relief that we are seeing. We cannot drop our guard or let it down because we can go back to a worse situation than where we were before. We know of Trinidad and Tobago right now, our brothers and sisters there are really suffering there under tremendous pressure. We have Martinique closer to home. We hear of India and we see what is happening. With such a large population we cannot afford that in St. Lucia Madam President. We would all be wiped out in a matter of one week. Senator Honourable Isaac indicated that the Ministry of Health and Wellness continues to fight against COVID-19 ramping up the vaccination campaign. A number of vaccination sites were established this week to facilitate vaccination efforts. Senator Honourable Isaac disclosed that St. Lucia is soon to receive some 150,000 vaccines. Madam President we speak of herd immunity and of course that depends on our vaccine efforts in country. I said earlier on that we are expecting to get 100,000 vaccines within and 100,000 vaccines that's purchased by the Government of St. Lucia and another 50,000 vaccines that's going to be given to us from the Covax mechanism. And we are expecting both of these shipments within this week and of course towards the end of this month. So our vaccine effort is extremely important Madam President for us to obtain that herd immunity that we are talking about and we are looking at being able to vaccinate at least about 108,000 people so that we can accomplish that task. The Parliament of St. Lucia approved the extension of the state of emergency for an additional period of five months, commenting from the 17th of May 2021 and ending on the 16th of October 2021. With the Peace Officer Program ended at the 30th of April authorities confirmed that alternative options are under consideration for its wardens. For instance, the Commissioner of Police is considering appointing select wardens as reserves after special police constables in the service are upgraded to constables. In a Senate sitting 7th of May 2021, Minister for National Security and Home Affairs Senator Hon. Herman Gale Francis acknowledged the successes of the program since its operations began in December. He expressed hope that the remaining wardens can be incorporated into other relevant state services based on their performance in the COVID-19 response. This project was a seven-month project and because it was so successful that we had to be getting funds to be able to do that. Presently it has come to an end but the government is actively looking for the finances in ways of savings because there are positions where the police have to employ more police officers, more fire officers and so on. But we have recognized the importance of the COVID wardens and so we are making the relevant allocations available so that they can be paid. We don't want our persons employed on two, three months down the line, you're not paying them. We want to make sure that we pay them every month, like any other civil servant. So this is the reason why the project has been shelved for a little while but we intend to continue. Thank you. Senator Hon. Herman Gale Francis, Minister for National Security and Home Affairs. The senator returns to official duty after recovering from an asymptomatic bout of COVID-19 infection. He encourages the public to get vaccinated. Unfortunately I give it to my dear wife and she suffered but I am saying that because apparently we have taken the first dose of the vaccine I think that helped her tremendously. And so I want to encourage all solutions to go and get vaccinated. This COVID thing is real. It is real. And so all of us, opposition and government and independent senators and everybody else we have to make a considered effort of speaking to our people and telling the dangers of this COVID. We cannot force or we do not want to force questions. We do not want to take the way in which St. Vincent, Antigua and Trinidad is going as to be able to force people to go and get the vaccination. We do not want to do that. We want to make sure everybody goes there willingly. Understanding, especially if you have old parents, okay, older people in your household that those are the persons more likely to die if they are infected. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health and Wellness is encouraging members of the public to get vaccinated as its vaccination campaign continues. The COVID-19 vaccination drive this week catered to the general population for the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine as well as those receiving the second dose of the vaccine. Individuals who received the first dose of the vaccine during the week of March 8, 2021 to March 13, 2021 are encouraged to visit the vaccination site nearest to them to receive the second dose. Individuals receiving the second dose of the vaccine should walk with the vaccination card which was given when the first dose of the vaccine was administered. The vaccination drive will continue on Saturday 8 May 2021 at the VG Sports Complex. Members of the public are asked to walk with a form of identification to facilitate the registration process. It is also recommended to come with a light snack and water given the possibility of awaiting time to get vaccinated. The vaccination site will be operational from 9am to 4pm. For more information, please contact the Community Nursing Service at 468-5321 or 468-5381. Prime Minister the Honourable Alan Sharsney has travelled to the United States of America for several meetings including key engagements with cruise industry officials in Miami, Florida. As St Lucia and the region prepare for the reopening of the cruise sector, anticipated in July of this year, Prime Minister Hon. Sharsney who coaches the Committee for the Caribbean and the Americas has been playing a lead role in curriculum on this issue. The Prime Minister's discussions with cruise lines will also centre on the development of St Lucia's southern cruise port. The Prime Minister upon return to St Lucia will quarantine for a 14-day period in accordance with COVID-19 protocols. In the Prime Minister's absence, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, Physical Planning, Natural Resources and Cooperatives Hon. Ezekiel Joseph serves as acting Prime Minister. Caricum heads of government stand in solidarity with India as the country grapples with rising COVID-19 cases. We hear more from Caricum News Times to San King, English Francis. On his Facebook page, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr. Hon. Keith Rowley, Chair of Caricum, shared a video of the situation in India and noted how easy it was for the dangerous virus to overrun any situation. Also in a Facebook post, Prime Minister of Dominica, the Hon. Roosevelt Scarrett, chair of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, the OECS, called on everyone to keep the people and the government of India in their prayers as they continue to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic. Several other Caricum heads of government have issued messages of solidarity with India. That was Caricum News Times to San King, English Francis. The Rony Bay Highway Expansion project is underway and includes the addition of two more motoring lanes from Rady to Bontair as well as the upgrade of water mainlines. The project seeks to address a number of issues including addressing traffic congestion by constructing two additional motoring lanes from Rady to Bontair with two roundabouts being constructed, improving motorists and pedestrian safety by constructing sidewalks and a walkover, reducing flooding during heavy rains by improving the drainage system in the area, improving the consistency and reliability of the water supply in the north by replacing the Wasco main pipes which are over 30 years old. The project currently employs approximately 100 persons. The Rotary Club of St. Lucia collaborates with the SEEDS International Program to aid those in need. Hermadi Mark has that story. The Rotary Club of St. Lucia has collaborated with the SEEDS International Program. The program aims to alleviate hunger by providing vegetable seeds to persons most in need around the world and especially in small island developing states. The Rotary Club made an application to citizens international and was successful in receiving 1,500 packets of vegetable seeds. The president of the St. Lucia Rotary Club, Leithan Khan, says the strategy of the St. Lucia Rotary Club this year is to collaborate with organizations locally and internationally to continue their charitable work in St. Lucia. At a time like this when the world is facing a number of different crises, we have a health crisis, we have climate change, we have the possibility of military and economic conflicts and political conflicts that could seriously disrupt the food chain supply. And this is why SEEDS International is pushing this program to help individuals in smaller territories at St. Lucia to find a way to produce your own food. So it's like a first step towards self-sufficiency at the individual domestic level. And so Rotary is very happy and delighted to partner with such a prestigious organization who is seeking to do good in the world. At a small presentation ceremony, the SEEDS were distributed to organizations with existing farming programs to grow and produce with the intention of distributing the grown produce to persons in need. The Uptown Girls Garden Center was a recipient. Deputy Director, Olympia Vitalis accepted the SEED donation on behalf of the Center. At Uptown Gardens, we do have an agricultural program that have been operating for the past 41 years. And so this contribution is going to go very well with what we do. We provide food for our girls. We cater to girls between the ages of 12 to 18. And we encourage them to be able to develop that level of subsistency living that we speak of. So this initiative is really going to go a long way in helping them provide for themselves at the center as well as their families. Again, I want to thank you for having us receive this gift, as they say, caring and sharing. So we appreciate your care. Wang Sonson, Director of the Boys Training Center, BTC, receiving the donation on behalf of the Center says the BTC currently has a hydroponics and aquaponics agricultural program. During the last year, when I'm COVID really came onto the island on the lockdown, we saw that a number of our boys, apart from these programs, they too started their own farms. So a number of them today is harvesting day for some of them. Some of them have Chinese cabbage and whatnot. So this will go a long way. And I must say that we have all come to realize how important food is to us as a nation. And it is good that we can help the young people to continue to live that legacy moving forward. So once again, I thank you and your seeds will go a long way towards our programs at the Boys Training Center. The other recipients include the Sarfalis Community College, National Skills Development Center, Cassie's Comprehensive Secondary School, St. Mary's College and the Rotary Club of Grosley. The organizations are expected to prepare a summary report on the successes and challenges during the planting process, as well as include photos of crops to be sent to the seeds international program for accountability purposes. From the Government Information Service, I'm Hermity Mark reporting. Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Honourable Dr. Ralph Gonzales says it is too early to count the cost of recovery from the impact of the last two free volcanic eruptions. Caricum News Times to thank English Francis has the details. Speaking during an appearance on a Facebook program titled Anu Palle hosted by Dominika's Prime Minister Roosevelt Scarrett, Dr. Gonzales said the World Bank projects very preliminary that the cost for reconstruction of infrastructure and agriculture is in the region of US$100 million. Dr. Gonzales says the cost analysis has to consider humanitarian aid, clearing the ash, reconstruction and repair to infrastructure including schools which are now functioning as shelters, rebuilding agriculture and animal husbandry. He said that his government's sensible public policy led to the establishment of a contingency fund. Which has given it immediate access to funds to aid its own humanitarian response. He noted, however, without regional and international solidarity in the long term, St. Vincent and the Grenadines would not be able to recover optimally. There's a good spirit. Things are such with people that they are saying, look, we're going to see this thing through, we're going to rebuild better, we're going to rebuild stronger. We have our social solidarity which is critical to this particular phase of humanitarian relief and then the next stages of recovery and reconstruction without the social solidarity. We wouldn't be able to do anything optimally successfully. Prime Minister Gonzales was thankful that there has been no loss of life or injury since eruptions began on April 9th. He noted that security on the ground has been vigilant, especially preventing people from going back into the red zones during periods of lull or volcanic eruptions. Prime Minister Gonzales also explained the current state of the volcano. You live in the uncertainty as to when it is erupting again. Three days ago it had another eruption, another explosive eruption. Fortunately, the last few eruptions, there have been several of them. They have not had the extent of the energy, but in some cases you had pyroclastic flows because rather than going up in the sky, in the atmosphere, the material comes over the volcano and runs down on the western side, which is the lower lip of the crater. Fortunately, those pyroclastic flows have not gone into areas of human habitation. Prime Minister St. Vincent and the Grenadines Honourable Dr. Ralph Gonzales speak in there. This is NTN Nightly. Up next, Primers Hutchinson with the NTN Nouvelle Aquial. If you are in receipt of an abnormally high bill, it is highly possible that you have a leak. That leak may not always be visible. Before you contact WASCO, conduct a do-it-yourself test. 1. Record your meter reading. 2. Do not use water for 30 minutes to 1 hour. 3. Take another meter reading. If the reading changes, you have a leak. Contact a plumber to identify and fix the leak at the earliest. A message brought to you by the Water and Sewage Company Incorporated, WASCO. Welcome back. We join Primers Hutchinson for the NTN Nouvelle Aquial. My name is Janelle. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to invite you to join us for the information about the government of the Nouvelle Aquial. This is GIS. It is also a national television station in NTN. This is the Nouvelle Aquial. This is Primers Hutchinson. Minister of Agriculture. This is the Nouvelle Aquial. By explaining that these are some of the issues the government has learned to address situations, organizations that have a availability for fixed exports here, these are NFTOs and poor people I met with in my media presence. According to the Minister of Agriculture, several NFTOs approach the government to assist, and give order frauds, a government queued to make them understand possible for them to continue to support the Salah organization. Minister Ezekiel Joseph with my cakey, as a committee when fresh, because there is a long-term agreement, and as a government in the long-term, to continue to move forward in the fixed industry here, it is necessary to form your committee to establish a stricter nef. Minister Aguicola explained to me that the long-term is necessary to form your committee Salah, and then a consultant to help operate. Minister Aguicola said that the consultant had three options to place the NFT in the opposition to continue to operate effectively. All three options for the consultant to come, because they say that the government is not going to take the NFT. The first option is for the government to have a memorandum of understanding between the NFT and the government to control the NFT entirely. The last option is for the government to buy 51% of the NFT and control the NFT. The last option is for the government to respond to the NFT. We are not going to go to the Ministry, we are not going to go to the NFT. We are going to go to the Ministry to help us to ensure that a restructuring moving forward, that we ensure that we can put the NFT in a way that benefits these farmers. Thank you Minister Aguicola. I have had a lot of discussions and NFT to examine these various ways that consultants and organizations to operate. I came to an opposition to consider a rather structured salary. This is a product that is made up of the necessary mechanisms to control the NFT, because the way you control the NFT is the way you can buy a piece of advice from the consultant. One thing I also want to say is that there are no recommendations from the Committee. This is a recommendation from the Government industry. Alright. and then put the money in the stock market. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank you for your information and for your effort to develop your new program. First Minister, we have Alain Chassner, who has one more strength point, which is to help the government to make restrictions to support different activities in the country to affect the general election. First Minister, we have Alain Chassner, who has one more strength point, which is to help the government to make restrictions to support different activities in the country to help the government to make restrictions to support different activities in the country to support different activities in the country and to make changes in the country. Then the third Minister, we have Alain Chassner, who has one more strength point, who has the important role to play, and that is to help the government to have a new environment and to make the most of these possibilities for other whole countries to make restrictions in the country. Second Minister, first Minister, in the first way possible. According to this constitution, the government has served its discretion and has committed a sub-construction of what has never been done before. This is possible for the election in general. The government also has a lot of discussion and even opposition concerning the protocols that have been governed by the coronavirus and its national activities. This is the general election. Prime Minister Chastney also explained his attention to the government to certainly cooperate and the opposition members to ensure that the union understands in the best possible way to establish protocols that address the obligations and commitments of all parties. That's it. As the cyclone season has prepared to start, we have to make an agreement. The Ministry of Construction and Work has put a lot in place to mobilize the supply chain for the situation. The cyclone season has started since May 20, when the cyclone season has been formed in Golemé, in the face of the country. The official of the communication in the Ministry of Health, Mr. Shannon Le Bon, declared that the group of engineers who have conducted assessments on this diverse issue must start a program to clean up all the garbage that has been filled up to this point. We also have to dismantle the wooden blocks, especially the ones that I have longed for on the road, in some ways, like the ones that I have done every year, like the ones that I have brought with me. The Ministry has also made a big call to the public to know that there is a lot of responsibility to make this arrangement necessary to prepare for the cyclone attack. Mr. Le Bon has advised that it is better to start dismantling the wooden blocks and make this arrangement a preparation for the cyclone season. The official of the communication, the preparation for the cyclone, is what has enabled all of us to be citizens of this area. And that is why we are here with this news. I thank you so much for your time, for your invitation, for me to consider, when it comes to life, I would like to thank you for the great news. After all, I would like to thank you for your channel and also, for the good finishing of the week. Thank you, Pill Primers. That brings us to the end of and Tien Knightly. Join us next time at 7pm with a repeat at 7am. You can also catch up with us anytime on the St. Lucia Government Facebook page or YouTube channel. I am Channel Novel.