 Welcome to NTN Nightly, I am Genelle Norvel. This edition stops stories. Five cases of the British COVID-19 variant diagnosed her make a full recovery. The Cabinet of Ministers strongly condemns recent acts of violence against women and the WHO assures equity for the COVID-19 vaccine through COVAX. The Ministry of Health and Wellness has received confirmation of 76 new cases of COVID-19 from the Israel Long Laboratory. This is from a batch of 309 samples which were taken for testing between January 18 to January 24, 2021. The Ministry of Health also received confirmation that 37 COVID-19 patients have fully recovered. This brings a total number of active cases in country to 412. All of the active cases are stable and doing well. All of the new cases are St Lucia Nationals who range in age from 6 years to 85 years. They are from the castries Souffre, Anselare, Grosillais, Denry and Barbados districts. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health and Wellness on Sunday, January 24, 2021 received confirmation from the Caribbean Public Health Agency, CAFRA, of five cases of the SARS-CoV-2 British variant diagnosed in country. Two of the cases are British Nationals who were diagnosed on December 17 and December 23, 2020, while the other three cases are St Lucia Nationals from the Denry, Miku and Barbados districts who were all diagnosed in December 2020. All five cases have made a full recovery from the COVID-19 virus. Chief Medical Officer Dr Sharon Melmar George. The identified strain had been in circulation from September 20, 2020 within the United Kingdom. The virus has since been detected in Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium and Australia, but the risk of importation into the Caribbean and the rest of the world was rated as high due to incoming travel from the United Kingdom and Europe. Cases of this new strain have since been confirmed in several Caribbean islands, including Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica. It is known and expected that all viruses constantly change over time. As such, it had been anticipated that this would also obtain if the COVID-19 virus. Studies conducted in the United Kingdom on this new variant of the virus suggest that it increases the rate of which the virus spread. This is estimated as increasing as much as up to 70%. The United Kingdom has noted increased levels of transmission and spread in the areas where the variant SARS-CoV-2 strain has been found. However, there is no evidence at this point of more severe cases associated with the new variant or reducing the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine. This new situation, according to the Chief Medical Officer, further emphasizes the need for strict adherence to all protocols recommended thus far and to ensure increased vigilance at all levels where risk has been identified. CARFA is the regional reference lab with the capacity to perform gene sequencing for the region and does gene sequencing for the variant for all its member states. At the recently convened meeting, the organization urged member states to ensure strict adherence to the current regional and national guidelines on COVID-19 prevention and control. The European Centers of Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed the following. There are no reports of worse clinical outcomes. The level of mortality remains the same. The effect on the population groups affected remains the same. On Monday, December 21, 2020, the Caribbean Public Health Agency hosted an emergency meeting with PAHO, WHO, OECS, and the Chief Medical Officers of the region to discuss the new risk by this new variant. It was further confirmed that the COVID-19 PCR testing being done in countries remains the gold standard to ensure accurate diagnosis within the mutations. And the vaccine approved by the Food and Drug Administration remains as relevant. The recommendations made are in relation to the strict adherence to the current regional and national guidelines on COVID-19 prevention and control. CAFA allows countries to send an allocation of 10 samples per week, which meets the requirements for gene sequencing for testing. The process of gene sequencing has a turnaround time of 3 to 4 weeks. Meantime, the World Health Organization's lead scientist on COVID-19 says a number of countries have reported variants of COVID-19. This is not unusual given that viruses experience changes all the time. Most of these mutations and variants will have no impact on the virus itself. But each of them deserves attention, deserves a robust framework to analyze them. And what we are looking for for each of them, and there will be more, is looking at transmissibility, looking at the severity, the disease presentation, and the severity caused by those who are infected with those variants, looking at the body's ability to develop neutralizing antibodies, and any potential impact on available and future diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines. As you know, there are a number of variants that have been identified, the one in the United Kingdom, the variants of concern, 2020-1. We have been working daily with our colleagues in our European regional office, as well as across the United Kingdom, at Public Health England, and many academic institutions, looking at transmission, looking at severity. The WHO specialist is urging adherents to personal hygiene measures and COVID-19 protocols, indicating that no matter what variant is emerging, protocols reduce transmission. We are encouraged by the signs of decreased transmission across the United Kingdom, also in Denmark and Ireland, and also in South Africa, which has a different virus variant, the 501YV2, that they identified recently. And we see decreasing trends in incidents, and this is a good sign. And it tells us that the public health measures that are in place work against these viruses. As you just heard Mike say, we have to stay the course. The interventions that are in place that we've seen across so many countries reduce transmission. They break chains of transmission. Everything from finding cases, isolating cases, good clinical care, quarantining, supported quarantining of contacts, individual levels of mask wearing, physical distancing, hand hygiene, avoiding crowds, opening windows, all of that needs to, we need to stay the course. We need to make sure that we adhere to all of those measures. Vaccines are giving us all hope of ending the pandemic and getting the global economy on the road to recovery. But we can only end the pandemic anyway if we end it everywhere. So says Director-General of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros, who called for a collaborative approach to the fight against COVID-19. In that stride, the Director-General disclosed that COVAX had signed an agreement with a pharmaceutical company for the COVID-19 vaccine. I'm glad to announce that COVAX has signed an agreement with Pfizer-BioNTech for up to 40 million doses of its vaccine. Additionally, pending WHO emergency use listing, we expect almost 150 million doses of the AstraZeneca Oxford vaccine to be available for distribution by COVAX in the first quarter of this year. Together, these announcements mean COVAX could begin delivering doses in February. Provided we can finalize a supply agreement for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and emergency use listing for the AstraZeneca Oxford vaccine. The Director-General assured that the vaccines will be received by signatories to the COVAX facility within the first three months of this year. He highlighted that the agreement also made allowances for other countries to lend support to the COVAX facility. COVAX is on track to deliver two billion doses by the end of this year. This agreement also opens the door for countries who are willing to share doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to donate them to COVAX and support rapid rollout. In my remarks to the WHO Executive Board on Monday, I called on the international community to work together as one global family to ensure the vaccination of health workers and older people is underway in all countries within the first 100 days of this year. The commitment of the United States to join COVAX together with this new agreement with Pfizer-BioNTech means that we are closer to fulfilling the promise of COVAX. Prime Minister the Honourable Alan Sharsney on the weekend visited the Ezra Long Laboratory for a first-hand view of the operations with regard to testing for COVID-19. The Ministry of Health and Wellness recently informed that COVID-19 PCR test results were experiencing delays due to the large volume of tests currently being conducted. Staff of the lab and director, Dr. Wayne Felicia, worked the prime minister through the various processes, including the sophisticated equipment procured for COVID-19 testing. Honourable Sharsney has committed to providing the necessary support the lab needs in order to enhance its testing capacity. This is NTN Nightly. When we come back, the Cabinet of Ministers strongly condemns recent acts of violence against women. Stay with us. Demachine Quasay Ek Moonblessi and Nomi Sissidam Bakaisala Kani Pudubut Stray animals are endangering human lives and property. Livestock owners, please ensure animals do not stray on roads, highways, and public places. Remember, sections of the Animals Act 2005 states, stray animals will be seized and put in a pound by authorized persons. Owners will be liable to a fine of $5,000 or two years' imprisonment or both. Save innocent animals. Save human lives and property. A message from the Department of Agriculture. Welcome back. Minister for Education, Innovation, Gender Relations, and Sustainable Development, Honourable Dr. Gil Rigabet has expressed her abhorrence over the recent spate of violence perpetrated her against women. Last week, there was a report of the rape of a woman in Jackmell. Then on Saturday, there was the news of the discovery of a naked body of a woman, the victim of the most extreme form of gender-based violence. Both acts Dr. Rigabet says are reprehensible and should be condemned. Honourable Rigabet has also called on all the inclusions to play their part in eliminating such crimes in the society. Senoucha is too small for somebody, somewhere, not to know about what transpired. Everyone must step up. This requires a collective effort. The elimination of violence against women and girls is not within the purview of any one person, agency, government, political party, or ministry. It is our responsibility. I would like to extend on behalf of my team, government, my deepest condolences to the family and friends of the latest Femicide victim. We were all horrified, so we can only imagine the pain, the anguish, the hurt that immediate family and friends must feel. You are in our prayers and in our thoughts. But the best way that we can demonstrate our sympathy, care, and concern is to assist the police with the investigation so that we can see the perpetrators brought to justice. Honourable Rigabet has also condemned the circulation of images of the deceased. I beg of us as inclusions, please. Let's show some more empathy, compassion, respect. Do we have to go as far as saying what if it was your sister? What if it was a relative? How would you feel? I beg of all of us, please. Let us not participate in this. The increased numbers of those extreme forms of gender-based violence like Femicide and the apparent desensitization of our citizens to the horror of such crimes underscores the very grim reality that deeply rooted inequalities and harmful gender norms persist in our society. Prime Minister of the Honourable Alan Shasne has also called on the general public to desist from circulating pictures of victims and acts of violence. The practice he says is damaging the nation's moral fabric. This is hurtful to the family members every time that they have to see it. This certainly will affect the investigation because it may make available evidence that we don't want shared. I'm appealing to all of us to think of what I did when I heard of these instances. I have a daughter. I have a daughter. I could have been her. So to suggest we don't care, we do. I personalize all of these things. But more importantly, after suffering the loss of your child to then see the indignity of people circulating these pictures, we're better than that solution. We're better than that. National Security Minister Senator Honourable Herman Gill Francis meantime says government has been working towards an improved environment following enforcement and dispensing of justice. The minister, however, notes that there are additional mechanisms needed. We must also look at the Domestic Violence Act and make sure that we get a safe house for our aborted women. I am also looking at the legislation from Trinidad, which gives police officers additional power because as we know for a fact that there are persons in our society who see the crimes, they know of it. They heard the cries of our ladies, but refused to report these matters. So right now with the legislation in Trinidad, the police officers don't need an informant to tell them of what is happening. Based on their intelligence, if they have the information that this is happening, they can move in and remove the perpetrator from that residence. Honourable Francis says government in the last two years has strengthened the capacity of the forensic lab in order to solve such crimes. The forensic lab is at its optimum presently and we are now adding an additional string to the boat where we are now going to be doing DNA testing. We are also taking the scenes of crime officers from the police force and they will be stationed at the forensic lab so that the coordination between the police and the forensic lab will be strengthened. That brings us to the end of NTN Nightly. 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 Danelle Novel.