 Welcome to NTN Nightly. I am General Norvel. This edition stops stories. New protocol measures announced in the national fight against COVID-19. Most strides are being made in Britain, the digital divide in the education sector, as the special needs sector receives laptop devices and government reaffirms its commitment to keeping gasoline capped at the pumps. New protocol measures have been announced as government and the Ministry of Health continue to lead the national fight against COVID-19. We have some new protocols based on the recent numbers that the CMO has given us. So first of all, I want to indicate that all registered farmers and fisher folk are to be included in the essential list of activities. That means that they automatically, once they are registered, they automatically will be able to operate outside of the curfew hours, meaning after 7 o'clock at night or before 4 o'clock in the morning, if their business requires, they would be allowed to be out. Pardon, PM, so let's just back up a bit that an amendment to the curfew. So because we had it at 7 p.m. to 5 a.m., and as you've just indicated, the curfew will now be 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. Correct. And that makes allowances for our registered farmers and fishers to go about their daily activities. It does, but also for those persons who like to exercise earlier in the morning can do so. But in addition to that, by making them an essential list of activities, also allows them to operate within the curfew times. So the same thing that would have applied to your manufacturing sector and your emergency services, they also, because farmers and fisherfolk are producing food for this country. And so we do not want to disrupt their normal pattern of work. And I think that we would all recognize the important role that they pay. Faith-based organizations may now hold daily or regular religious ceremonies within the established protocols with the numbers determined by the square footage of the building and keeping with the COVID-19 response plan approved by the Ministry of Equity. So again, we're going away from where churches were going to be limited to 25 people, but based on the square footage of the church, they can operate. Faith-based organizations may hold special religious rights, including weddings and funerals with a maximum of 25 persons in attendance. And that will also be the number that would be limited when they actually go to the graveyard site as well. There will be a suspension on the sale and disposal or the continued suspension on sale and disposal of intoxicating liquor be maintained until the 24th of February. Upon the lifting of the suspension, no consumption of intoxicating liquor shall be permitted or on licensed premises during the period the 25th of February to the 16th of March. So even when the current suspension comes to an end on the 24th, the intention is that liquor will be available at the grocery stores, both big and small, but it will be on a grab-and-go basis. So we know in the rural areas that there are grocery stores that are also bars. Persons will be able to purchase their liquor in those locations, but it will be on a grab-and-go basis. So we don't see persons congregating in those spots, but that will be between the 24th to the 16th of March. Restaurants and other food establishments shall operate only with a takeaway service. And that's within the curfew hours. So any restaurant or food establishment can be open and can provide grab-and-go or delivery services, but they have to be shut and follow the curfew hours. Commercial and business enterprises may be open for businesses and permitted to operate within the established protocols and minimal operation using blended approach. So it means many of the smaller shops and the vendors now will be allowed to go back and start their operations again and would have to operate within the hours of the curfew. So between 4 o'clock in the morning and 7 o'clock in the evening, but again, they're going to be required to follow the protocols of wearing your face mask all the time, ensuring that your customers are wearing their face mask at all times. Indoor and outdoor training and gym workouts be permitted within the established protocols and prohibition on contact and non-contact competitive sporting activities shall remain in place. So people are allowed to go out training, but we are still requiring any contact sports to be restricted. And these measures shall remain in effect from the 17th of February until the 16th of March. Meantime over in Barbados, Prime Minister Honourable Mia Mortley has announced an 11-day extension to the ongoing lockdown that maintains a strict 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew. The difficult decisions are unfolding at a time when the country battles over 600 active COVID-19 cases. During an almost hour-long address, Honourable Mortley explained the decision to extend the restricting measures until the last day of February was consistent with the best advice of her public health team. The only adjustment after February 17 is the decision to allow minimats to reopen from Monday to Friday. The extended lockdown will have a devastating impact on the Barbados economy with a projected $150 million in losses over the four-week period. Prime Minister Mortley has pointed to her government's highly touted capital works projects as a ray of hope in helping cushioning the blow. A key component in the national response to the pandemic is the rollout of a strategic vaccination programme. On Wednesday, 17 February 2021, the Ministry of Health will begin that programme with frontline workers and the most vulnerable. 3,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine arrived on Island last week, a contribution from the governments of Barbados and Dominica. Recognising the urgent need to commence COVID-19 vaccination campaigns in the eastern Caribbean, leaders continue to stand in solidarity during the pandemic by sharing the first vaccine doses that arrive in the region. More in this report. While awaiting an order of vaccines from the Indian government, St. Lucia thankfully accepted 3,000 doses from neighbouring islands that received theirs first. The Commonwealth of Dominica donated 2,000 Oxford AstraZeneca doses and Barbados donated 1,000 in order for St. Lucia to move swiftly in vaccinating those at highest risk in its population. The two countries are the first in the region to have received 1,000 doses of AstraZeneca, and the second in the province of the vaccine from India under the Vaccine Matri Initiative. On Sunday, February 7th, the government of India dispatched 100,000 doses to Barbados and 70,000 to Dominica. Within the week, the two islands received their consignments allocated and shipped batches to their Caribbean neighbours, including St. Lucia. Dominica's Prime Minister, Hon. Roosevelt Scarrett, told why he paid it forward. It makes no sense if one country is fully vaccinated and the neighbours are not. And therefore, this spirit calls for multilateralism and it also calls for empathy and it calls for a spirit of sharing. Dominica also donated 5,000 doses each to St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Antigua and Barbuda from their India donation. Hon. Scarrett is thankful to the Asian nation for its swift and favourable response to his early request for vaccine support. He is also pleased to assist neighbouring islands in beginning urgent vaccination campaigns against the COVID-19 virus. I don't think I could go to bed knowing that I have 70,000 doses of vaccines and not share with the rest of the relations as small as what we gave them is or was. But still they can start the process. These vaccination donations to St. Lucia will be used in the rollout of the first phase of vaccinations for 1,500 frontline workers, including medical personnel, state security, including the police, fire service, correctional officers and paramedics. During the first parliamentary sitting for the year when only Barbados' donation was confirmed, Minister Hon. Alan Chastney announced Prime Minister Mia Motley's gesture to the Hon. House. She did that because she clearly understands the stress we're all under, particularly with our front miners. This is not to say like we're a huge metropolitan country and we have lots of other resources to make up for that. We know that when a police station goes down, everybody in the police station goes down with it. That we have any of our nurses affected significantly where it would cause us to have to close down one of our main hospitals. So I'm very grateful to her and the people of Barbados that have agreed to share these vaccines with us. Prime Minister Chastney also announced that 74,400 doses of the vaccine will arrive on Island before the end of February procured through the COVAX facility. Hon. Chastney indicates that his government intends to purchase additional Oxford AstraZeneca doses from India and like other OECS Member States awaits a direct donation from that country as well. Discussions are also ongoing for vaccines from the African Union. For the Government Information Service, I am Jesse Leons reporting. And the Carrickham Secretariat has also received a donation of 100 vaccines from the Government of Barbados to vaccinate 50 employees. Secretary-General Ambassador Irwin La Rock says it is not the first time that the islands have banded to address the difficulties of COVID-19. When we were in a spot of trouble in March of last year, those countries who were able to get PPEs and those countries who were able to get reagents and test kits were also able to share with others who were not. And I know that Barbados is sharing with many other countries and similarly Dominica. Dominica also received 70,000 doses and Dominica is sharing with some of the OECS countries. So I think this demonstrates the solidarity. Prime Minister Motley has said to me that our staff in Barbados, we do have an office in Barbados, will also be looked after along with some of our very critical and important regional institutions that are located in Barbados. These are the frontline agencies. I'm talking about SIDEMA. I'm talking about the RSS. I'm talking about impacts. I'm talking about, of course, us here as secretariat. I think people don't understand the amount of coordination that's being done among these frontline institutions. CAFA, of course, is headquartered in Trinidad and Tobago but I'm sure some arrangements will be made because CAFA is doing human service in conducting tests on behalf of member states and I should mention University of the West Indies as well. They are doing tests along with CAFA to try to detect what types of strain is in our region. So it's a whole effort by the community and its organizations to fight and respond to the COVID. Ambassador La Rock is encouraging Caribbean nationals to participate in the vaccination programs in the respective territories in order to restore normalcy to the region. I've taken the vaccine, I feel fine. I encourage persons to make themselves available. This is the ultimate fight to get us to herd immunity what is referred to as herd immunity so that we can get on with our normal lives. At the same time we have to continue to be cautious and be safe and wear a mask and follow all the advice that the health personnel are giving in the intervening period. I will continue to wear my mask and to keep my social distance and to wash my hands and to do all the necessary hygiene actions that we are supposed to do until we know that we are out of the woods and I do encourage everybody to do the same. Secretary-General of Curricum Ambassador Irwin La Rock More strides are being made in bridging the digital divide in the education sector as COVID-19 changes the manner of instruction. The Education Quality Improvement Project Equip St. Lucia has provided some 30 laptop devices to visually impaired students and special education teachers on the island. Project coordinator Marie Grace Oges says the devices were financed by grant funding from the Caribbean Development Bank. Sixteen will go to students, special education needs students and fourteen will go to teachers. Now you probably be wondering why there was this delay because of the COVID-19 pandemic. We have to recognize that even in the supply chain of our laptops it was a little glitch because the suppliers, the overseas suppliers could not get the parts that they required to put into the laptops. But at least they're here, they're fully delivered. Chief Education Officer Dr. Fiona Phillip-Mayer says the devices are designed not just to assist in the learning process but open new and dynamic opportunities to the students. The software is going to help turn text into voice so much so that we know that it's not only about Braille which is a very important skill to learn but with the advent of the internet students are able to actually look at the text with the software that they have and get the voice for it. So that is really, really a powerful thing to be able to access so much more. So let me congratulate the team let me thank them on behalf of all of us educators for empowering our students, investing in our students, improvement and ensuring that their skills are even further. Education Officer for Special Education Dale Sergis lauded Central Government's commitment to revolutionizing education for the special needs sub-sector. Many of our special schools have already set up their online platforms for the learning of their students. One area of deficit for many of them is the availability of devices for the teachers. We have done a very careful examination of the situation and assessment of the needs and these devices are going to persons who have needs and we know that the laptops will be used in the service of the education of our students. So we are very grateful for this opportunity. I also want to say that this handover although it is coming within the COVID period it is not strictly COVID assistance. I think I can correctly say that Equip has always had it in mind to provide high quality educational resources to support the special needs community. That has always been part of the thinking behind Equip and that includes making available assistive devices for persons with special needs, providing training for teachers, providing support for the parents of children with special needs and this is one of the components of that improvement in education for the special needs sector. The handing over ceremony was held on Monday, February 15, 2021 at the Equip conference room at Goodlands. Hester Sinclair, teacher at the Donato School received on behalf of special needs teachers and Mia Randolph, a special needs student at the Mastery's Comprehensive Secondary School received on behalf of benefiting students. Minister for Commerce, Industry, Investment, Enterprise Development and Consumer Affairs Honourable Bradley Felix noting the most recent adjustment in the prices of petroleum products on Ireland is providing clarity to the public as it relates to government's pricing mechanism. The modified market pass through petroleum pricing mechanism on February 2015 was changed to a three-week period with a view of allowing government to respond to the fuel price adjustments as they played out on the world market. I want to give a comparison at our last pass through mechanism compared to this pass through mechanism going forward. At our last pass through mechanism that was in place, the landed price and I want to speak specifically to gasoline which is where the increase is currently. Gasoline was landed at $6.20 and in this period it's landed at $6.69, a difference of $0.49. Government has in place excise tax of $4 which is added on to this figure. Out of that $4 we are very familiar that $150 is committed to our road rehabilitation road improvement project. There is a service charge of 6% which is calculated on the landed cost and at our last period that service charge of 6% amounted to $0.37 and this period the service charge is $0.40. So $0.49, the difference in the landed price and the service charge we now at a total of $0.52. The company margin starts at $8.01 and that accounts for individuals bringing in fuel and the retail margin starts at $1.10 which accounts for individuals selling fuel. None of the aforementioned margins change. The minister explained that the increase in costs such as the increase in CIF and the service charge account for the $0.53 increase. Minister Honourable Felix indicated however that in many instances the government continues to absorb some of the costs to consumers. Regarding the LPG, the 20.22 cylinders we see another adjustment. Had government passed on the increase customers would have been paying an increase of $0.96. Government decided to further subsidize this by $0.48 and $0.53 respectively and therefore it brings a total of the subsidy now towards the 20.22 and the 22.00 at $7.86 and $8.65 respectively. This means we estimate that government will be giving up revenue of about $400,000 in subsidies towards the LPG 20 and 22.00 cylinders. Government is expected over the next three-week period to make about $3.6 million in excise tax revenue. We make a comparison to last year February. Government had estimated that we would have made about $4.25 million. So you could recognize the difference between last year and this year in terms of the estimates and in terms of the revenue that government is making. Comparing the price of fuel in member states of the Eastern Caribbean currency union, the minister reaffirmed the government's commitment to make about $1.95 per gallon. The funds are massed by the government over the three-week pass through petroleum pricing mechanism is expected to contribute to government expenditure. This is NTN Nightly. Up next, Primers Hutchinson with the NTN Luvel Aquial. It's hair, the bio-intellicense biobutton, an innovation to the Ministry of Health's approach in battling COVID-19. The biobutton is a state-of-the-art device. It supports people keeping regular checks of signs of possible COVID-19 infection while placed in home quarantine. It monitors temperature, heart rate, and respiratory rate. It is very simple. Just link it to your smartphone and place the button on your chest. It's that easy. The biobutton costs only US$100 for the 14-day period. For further information, please contact the Epidemiology Unit at 468-5325 or 468-5324. Welcome back. We join Primers Hutchinson for the NTN Luvel Aquial. This is Primers Hutchinson. We are here to support this diverse project. The government has continued to take steps to help support the economic situation of the country, especially citizens who are more vulnerable. For example, the Prime Minister, Alain Chassner, has established his motion in May last week to seek a way for the Parliament to approve a legislation that governs the Prime Minister. For example, a magic trick, I play hard with a lot of necessities that deserve to be served by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister has also found a good way to support the country. The initiative has been started since the 1st of February this year and the 31st of March this year as well. Prime Minister Chassner explained that the government has had a direction to support the economic situation and as a situation that has come to be more difficult, you have to do everything you can to help support the people who are more vulnerable in the country. Prime Minister Chassner also said that a situation that can improve the American economy, the majority of the people who are out are the people who have received more support from the family who are living in America. The public sector has found a notification that the season to fish in Huma will be the first in March and the first in May 2021. In the meantime, it is important for the people to fish and not to oppose this because it is for the people. However, in this sector, the government has made it difficult for the people to fish and not to oppose this because it is for the people to buy in Huma during the season to fish in Huma. The season to fish in Huma has been closed all year to help the people in Huma to benefit and to make contributions to entertain the people who live and not to destroy the people in Huma. This law has been protected for Huma during the season to help the people in Huma to continue to serve the people who are out to eat and for the fish to benefit for the people in Huma and the restaurants. Huma is a good thing for the public because of this, the people in Huma and the restaurants who obey the rules to protect the people from the people in Huma. So it is a good thing for the people to continue to serve the people in Huma to help the people in Huma to make contributions to the people in Huma. In particular, the consumers should not buy in Huma to start the first year in Huma in 2020 because it is closed season. Thank you very much. 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 Channel Novel. you