 Welcome to NTN Nightly, I am Genelle Norville, this edition's top stories. A 52-year-old male is the first non-national on St. Lucia's list of COVID-19 related deaths. The departments of Education and Health and Wellness through rigorous protocols ensure the safety of students and the Palais Seymour's Farmers' Day of Flood despite increased competition on the international market. The Department of Health and Wellness on Wednesday, 15 January 2021 reported that four more patients at the respiratory hospital have recovered from COVID-19 while 12 more have been diagnosed with the virus. One of the newly registered cases passed away becoming the first non-national COVID-19 related death in St. Lucia. The individual is a 52-year-old male, a national of the United Kingdom. He arrived in St. Lucia on December 30, 2020 and died on January 9, 2021 and he was not in care at the time of his passing. Condolences are extended to the family and loved ones of this individual on their recent loss. The UK National's passing brings the total number of COVID-19 related deaths in St. Lucia to six. The remaining cases are nationals who were in isolation for care. Eleven of the cases are St. Lucia Nationals ranging in age from one year to 73 years. They are from Castries, Babano and Grossely districts. These individuals were seen at the community respiratory clinic where they were assessed and tested for COVID-19. They were placed in quarantine by health practitioners pending the receipt of their test results. Arrangements have been made to place these individuals into isolation. Epidemiological links have been established for five of those cases thus far and investigations are ongoing by the contact tracing team to determine the possible existence of epidemiological links for the other six cases. The island's total number of confirmed cases stand at 502. 319 patients have since recovered and there are currently 177 active cases all being stable and non-requiring critical care. Noting the importance of students returned to the physical classroom setting, the Department of Education and Health and Wellness have implemented rigorous COVID-19 protocols in schools to ensure the safety of all. Officials are confident that these protocols at educational institutions are such that if one child is a suspected case, it will not mean the overall collapse of the education sector. Details in this report by Jesse Laos. What to do if a child becomes sick at school? Staff of educational institutions have been briefed on the procedure for managing a suspected case within the student population. Should a child display signs or report symptoms of infectious illness consistent with COVID-19, he or she is to be immediately isolated in a designated isolation room until pickup. The parent or guardian is to be notified and will be responsible for picking up and transporting that child to a respiratory clinic for testing and evaluation. If their test results return negative, the child may return to school after their symptoms go away. If the test is positive, the school will be contacted by the Department of Health and protocols for contact tracing will be initiated. Chief Environmental Health Officer Parker Ragnanan indicates that the controlled environment of educational institutions guided by these procedures are a safer option for school-aged children at this time. Up to January 5th, 2021, 37 children between the ages 0 to 17 years contracted COVID-19 on Ireland while they were out of school. Even with our students being out of school, many times they are not within a protected environment. They are out there on the streets, you see them in groups, you see them on the beach and they are exposed as well. And so the question really is the exposure at school. How much more exposed would the child be at school as compared to not being at school? Ahead of the new term, school staff have been assured that any possible exposure of COVID-19 will be communicated to them and the wider school population. And a list of close contacts of the confirmed case will be drawn up starting from two days before development of symptoms. Close contacts will be notified, tested and quarantined for 14 days. The classroom occupied by the confirmed case will be cleaned and disinfected and the diagnosed student will be isolated according to protocols. He or she will be isolated until the symptoms clear up and a new PCR test result comes back negative. Only then will that student be able to return to school. Last October, all schools on Ireland were closed when a Casteries Comprehensive student tested positive. Ragnanand suggests that it will take more than one positive test to shut schools again. You would remember the domino kind of effect that this one experience had on the island. The question is really, if there is a situation at one individual school, should every school on the island remain closed as a result? That is the question. And therefore, in all other business sectors, so we've had persons at different business places who have contracted the disease. But have we seen all businesses shut down on the island? So we need to look at it very, very carefully and take very strategic approaches in terms of how we do things. Health officials refer to evidence which shows that children are less likely than adults to be transmitters of disease and that child-to-child transmission is uncommon. For the Government Information Service, I am Jesse Leance reporting. The Department of Education, Innovation and Gender Relations during a recent press conference indicated that many factors had to be considered in the closure and subsequent reopening of school. One such factor, according to Minister for Education Honourable Dr. Gil Rigabet, was the overall well-being of students. The Minister noted that school remains a safe space for a number of students. One of the issues we struggled with when we were previously forced to close schools and among the issues we've had to consider with respect to reopening of school include one, the nutritional support that many students benefit from while in school, which means that when they are out of school, we cannot guarantee that they are getting the requisite age-appropriate nutritional support. Further, though it is an unsavory topic, for many of our children, school is the only safe space that they know. And our school counsellors, who fall under the leadership of Miss Eugene, along with other stakeholders, have been very keen to ensure that we can bring those students back into schools, which is really, for many of them, a very safe space. Minister Honourable Dr. Rigabet explained that with the acknowledgement that the school feeding programme was inadequately meeting the needs of students, a new school feeding policy has been adopted. Previously, we recognised that the school feeding programme was implemented only at the primary school level. And the question was asked very often, when that child then moves on to secondary school, is there an automatic change in the economic circumstance of his or her family? So over the last two or three years, we have started with a pilot feeding programme in secondary schools, and we've been able over time to include more participating schools onto that school feeding programme. I'm elated to say that we are now informed by a scientific, technical school feeding policy, which means that thanks to the partnership of Ministry of Health again and people like Miss Hunt, for example, we've been able to speak to the nutritional content of that which we share with students in school, we've addressed the issue of sugars as well, artificial sweeteners, and what that means for our students. The Department of Education is also considering the expansion of the school feeding programme so as to include students who due to their parents' change in economic situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic may now require that support. We're grateful for the new school feeding policy, too, that we are mindful of the extended or expanded need, especially given the economic challenges that families now face. Many of who would have been displaced by COVID-19 through the loss of their jobs, and so we have to double our efforts to meet children who perhaps previously had no need to be on a school feeding programme, but may very well have to be entertained and catered for, moving forward precisely because of the new economic situation that their parents have found themselves in. Minister for Education Honourable Dr. Gil Rigabet. As long as vaccination doses remain unlimited, the world cannot rely on vaccinations to flatten the pandemic curve, so said Director of the Pan-American Health Organization, PAHO Dr. Carissa Atien. While vaccination doses remain limited, the Director noted that there are three priority areas that remain critical in controlling the spread of COVID-19 in the region. The first is to ensure equitable access to the tools, both new and old, to prevent and treat COVID-19. We must ensure that health workers have the protective gear and equipment that they need to do their jobs safely. And that every person who requires hospitalisation can access the basic medications they need, ISOE beds, if that is necessary, to manage and treat the conditions. This is especially challenging as cases surge and supply chains are strained. With the arrival of vaccines, we must ensure not just that doses are produced quickly, but they are equitably delivered and swiftly across every country, regardless of income. This, Dr. Atien explained, will require global and regional collaboration and solidarity with donors, pitching in resources from mechanisms like the COVAX facility. Another priority area is the quick action by leaders in the region to foster unity. This pandemic has taught us time and time again that leadership determines the effectiveness of a country's response. As we look to the year ahead, leaders will face difficult choices as we work to flatten the transmission curve. And that's why we need leaders to act transparently so that the public understands their decisions and the scientific evidence that is behind those decisions so we can rally people around a shared plan. We need leaders to act in the interests of public health, not political gain, by working together to make the best use of the tools to prevent this virus. Dr. Atien assured that PAHO remains committed and stands ready to assist all countries in the region in the fight against the coronavirus. We don't have much time to lose, but we cannot beat the pandemic without strong vaccine delivery plans. And that's why PAHO is working with every country in our region to help secure the vaccine doses that countries need to protect their populations. We're also providing support with vaccine demand planning, logistics and cold chain management, surveillance and information system strengthening, health worker training and vaccine communication planning among others. Director of PAHO, Dr. Carissa Atien speaking at the first media briefing for the year 2021. This is India Nightly. Please stay with us. COVID-19 is a new pandemic disease as declared by the World Health Organization. It is transmitted directly by respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes or indirectly through rubbing the face with contaminated hands. There is still no specific treatment or vaccine against COVID-19 and as such, the farming community should adhere to some special recommendations. Reduce your farm labor to only essential workers. Ensure regular hand washing with soap and water or use 60% to 95% alcohol-based hand sanitizer until soap and water are available. Clean all work surfaces and farm tools such as cut glasses, forks and sprayers with a 10% bleach solution. Ensure that toilets are cleaned thoroughly after each use and sanitized daily. Prohibit visitors to the farms. Limit contact among farm workers and promote social distances, ensuring six feet between each worker. And promote a no-hand shaking or unnecessary touch policy. More than ever before, your important role as the gatekeepers of St. Lucia's nutritional health and food security should be taken seriously. When you exercise these precautions, you not only safeguard your health but also continue to allow all St. Lucia's access to freshly grown fruits, vegetables and other local crops. Remember, it is our responsibility to ensure our nation eats fresh St. Lucia's best. Welcome back. The Poales Seamos Farmers Association, guided by Export St. Lucia, have maintained their exports despite increased competition on the international market for the high price commodity. Details in this report. Export St. Lucia says the island Seamos still attracts a higher price than any other Seamos on the market despite increased competition from Latin America and other Caribbean territories. However, some Seamos farmers on island have noted with anxiety a reduction in rates per pound since more players have entered this mariculture business internationally. CEO of Export St. Lucia, Sunita Daniel, weighs in on this concern. The international market price would go down because you have so many entrants to the market, now you would find that there would be complaints. So they have to decide on their own whether for their business model they should continue exporting Seamos or not. What we want to advise persons is that the market for Seamos remains, the demand for Seamos remains, what you should not expect and I don't think any business person should really expect is to get abnormally high prices for your Seamos. Export St. Lucia works with the Parley Seamos Farmers Association and Daniel reports that the association maintains high standards in the market and turns a profit. We as a government agency have continued to work with our Seamos farmers. We continue to give them the support that they require. We continue working with them on their packaging and we continue working with them on the quality of product. The farmers we work with are selling their Seamos and they're making a profit. She encourages private entities operating Seamos farms and exporting to submit a quality product. We've had a lot of persons not exactly doing what they're supposed to do in terms of maintaining the standards, in terms of how the branding and the packaging of the product is supposed to be done. So the farmers we work with know the standards, they know the branding, they know the packaging requirements. A lot of persons have entered the market doing their own thing and so this is what would happen when they go on their own. The Export St. Lucia CEO laments that buyers have reported substandard Seamos coming from some private local entities that do not have any ties with her organization. This she says is impacting the sector's reputation. We know of persons who have exported substandard Seamos. We know distributors will send us pictures and tell us this is the Seamos we're getting. We don't know those persons. These are persons, private individuals who have gone out and sold Seamos and doing their own thing and the product they're selling is so substandard that it's now affecting the entire St. Lucia Seamos brand. So we want to caution persons if you're entering the business to do it right. Daniel advises Seamos farmers who may have issues with production to seek guidance from the department of fisheries and for branding assistance, export St. Lucia. St. Lucia is the first profitable cultivation of seaweeds in the Atlantic Ocean or the Caribbean Sea. For the Government Information Service, I am Jesse Leance reporting. Mandatory pre-departure testing for all international arrivals to England will come into effect worldwide from the 15th of January 2021 including for passengers departing from Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. A limited exemption has been granted until the 21st of January for clock-win-rich meantime GMT for arrivals from Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda and St. Lucia to help Britons in this country's return home. Inbound passengers to England will need to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test result taken no more than three days prior to departure. The UK Government has confirmed that mandatory pre-departure testing for all inbound passengers to England will come into force from Friday 15th January 2021 as an added measure to safeguard public health against the coronavirus and its variants. A limited exemption has been granted until the 21st of January for clock GMT to help Britons in Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados and St. Lucia return home. This decision reflects current infrastructure challenges in these countries, including limited COVID-19 testing capacity and heightened demand for tests. Persons arriving into England from these three islands from the 4 o'clock GMT on the 21st of January will be required to comply in full with the new requirements. Visitors are strongly encouraged to use this time to review and clarify their plans for return to England, including considering options to revise flight departures and if necessary, put in place suitable arrangements for qualifying pre-departure tests. In preparation for travel passengers will need to find a testing provider which meets the standard set out on by the UK Government, the majority of which will be PCR tests. Full details of requirements can be found at www.gov.uk. Prior to departure, passengers will be required to present proof of a negative COVID-19 test result taken no more than three days before departing to transport operators as well as their passenger locator form. Carriers may deny boarding to those who do not have a negative test result. The UK Border Force will conduct sport checks on arrival into England. Passengers who arrive at the border without proof of a negative result will be subject to an immediate £500 fine. For people arriving from countries not on the travel corridor list, they will be required to complete a mandatory self-isolation period and the travel corridor's list is regularly reviewed to manage the risk of imported cases of COVID-19 from high-risk countries. Passengers still have the option to reduce their self-isolation period as part of the test-to-release scheme launched last month, unless they have been in South Africa, Angola, Botswana to name a few in the 10 days prior to their travel in England. The current advice for persons in the UK remains that they must stay at home and not travel abroad unless it is for a permitted exempt reason. 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 when the St. Lucia Government Facebook page or YouTube channel. I am Janelle Norvel.