 Welcome to NTN Nightly. I am Jesse Leance. This edition's top stories, new cases of COVID-19 are being captured from a wider range of communities as three additional cases are recorded. The Ministry of Education orders all schools to remain closed for a further two weeks. And a St. Lucian startup that introduces medical tags to the Caribbean market makes it to the international scene. The Ministry of Health received confirmation this morning, Thursday, October 22nd, 2020, of three confirmed cases of COVID-19. This brings the total number of cases diagnosed to date in country to 42. Case number 40 is a 42-year-old male from the Mico district. Case number 41 is a 29-year-old female from Castries, and case number 42 is a 58-year-old female from the Babuno district. More from the chief medical officer, Dr. Sharon Belmar George. All cases presented at community respiratory clinics with respiratory symptoms and were tested and placed in quarantine pending the results. Upon receiving their results, they've been transferred to the respiratory hospital for care. This brings to 15, the total number of confirmed cases currently isolated for care. All 15 cases are currently in care and doing well. During this week, it has been noted that the new cases are being captured from a wider range of communities nationally, pointing to the existence of community spread of COVID-19. If you are experiencing respiratory symptoms which include a cough, sore throat, fever, we appeal to you to promptly seek care at the closest respiratory clinic. Anyone experiencing these symptoms should not be within the workplace or involved in social activities. As COVID-19 cases come closer to our homes, our communities, workplaces and social circles, we should realize that we are all at risk of contracting the virus. It is important that we each take all of the measures to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe. The Ministry of Health reminds every citizen of the importance of consistently practicing infection prevention and control measures. Ensuring that a mask is used when in public to follow floor markers or spaces to maintain the recommended physical distance where floor markers are not available as a guide, use a separation from the next person as two arms length apart. Also, to wash and sanitize your hands often throughout the day. Remember if you're experiencing flu-like symptoms, seek care at the closest respiratory clinic. The five respiratory clinics remain open for anyone experiencing symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat. The Grosjele polyclinic and the Denver hospital are open on Saturday and Sunday from 8 to 4 to ensure access to care during the weekend. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sharon Belmont-George Minister for Education Honorable Dr. Gail Rigaburt has issued a statement on the status of schools amid the increasing cases of COVID-19. Dr. Rigaburt has informed that as determined by the Chief Medical Officer, there is indeed community spread of the coronavirus and as such the decision has been taken that all learning institutions shall remain closed for a further two weeks. The proposed date for the reopening of school is now Monday, November 9th, 2020. The minister says, given that the situation is still so fluid, there is the possibility that the date may change. Students, teachers and parents are to continue with the multifaceted mode of learning and teaching, employing both traditional methods and learning online during this period. Parents are encouraged to ensure that children remain at home as part of combating the spread of the coronavirus and to avoid mass crowd gatherings. The Pan-American Health Organization says in the English-speaking Caribbean most new COVID-19 cases are related to non-essential international travel. Grenada, for instance, reported its first new COVID-19 case in three months, coinciding with the reopening of its borders. PAHO Director Dr. Karissa Etienne says the resurgence underscores that fighting this pandemic is not a one-time effort. It requires a sustained response even in places where transmission is down. Dr. Etienne has called on countries to remain in control of the virus while they await the arrival of a safe and effective vaccine. Today we have a pipeline of more than 180 vaccine candidates under study with 11 in Phase 3 clinical trials and several of them including volunteers in our region. While the world urgently awaits a breakthrough, it is important to highlight that PAHO will only support the distribution of a vaccine that has proven to be safe and effective in clinical trials, reviewed by national regulatory authorities and recommended by the World Health Organization. Vaccines are designed and manufactured with safety in mind. This process is supervised by regulators and followed closely by the scientific community. The PAHO Director has assured that the organization will ensure equitable access to a vaccine by every country. And that's why PAHO has been engaged in the COVAX facility. So countries across our region will have equitable access to a vaccine as soon as it becomes available. COVAX will be the best viable option that countries will have to access COVID-19 vaccines in the short term. That's why over 182 countries and economies around the world have joined this initiative. We are so happy to report that virtually every country in Latin America and the Caribbean has joined or is in the process of joining the facility. PAHO has been supporting countries to navigate what can be very often complicated, legal and budgetary steps needed to secure their participation in this innovative global partnerships. Dr. Etienne revealed that PAHO is collaborating with financial institutions like the Inter-American Development Bank to support countries in our region access the funding needed to purchase vaccines through the COVAX facility when they are available. PAHO is also collaborating with the Caribbean Public Health Agency, CAFA, and the European Union to provide financial support for the down payment required by the COVAX facility for Caribbean countries to join. 11 countries will be covered by this agreement. This will help to ensure that the Caribbean people, especially the most vulnerable, can benefit from a safe, effective COVID-19 vaccine. Director of PAHO, Dr. Carissa Etienne. In meantime, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for quality statistics to track the status of the pandemic and its economic and social impact. Michelle Nurse reports on the CARICOM Secretary General's statement on the World Statistics Day. In a statement to my Caribbean Statistics Day on 15th of October, the Secretary General points out that in the efforts to manage and overcome the pandemic, epidemiological data underpinned the information based on the spread of the virus. The Secretary General's Statistics Program has been compiling weekly statistical bulletins tracking the pandemic in the region. The bulletins provide information on the pattern of the disease, the total number of confirmed cases, new cases, and deaths for each country and the total for CARICOM. The CARICOM Secretary had joined with the rest of the region in observing Caribbean Statistics Day as well as World Statistics Day on 20th of October. The observances were held under the theme Connecting the World with Data We Can Trust. We caught up with two members of the CARICOM Secretary at Statistics Unit and they spoke about their work in statistics impacts the region. Countries are forced and foremost focused on the performance of their economies. So economic statistics provide a picture not just for those economies but for the region as a whole as it relates to how we are performing economically. And we know once our countries are performing well economically it can then lead to spill-off effects or spill-off benefits for other areas which I might not be to integrate involved in but that's just to recognize the importance of the performance of economic statistics for the region. Usually when we say and I think I wanted to delve into another aspect of statistics when we usually talk about statistics people just think about the numbers being produced but there is an aspect of statistics that is often overlooked which is the methodology behind those numbers. We need to ensure and this also forms a critical part of my work. We need to ensure that countries are adopting the right methodology and the production of the numbers. So a big part of my work is to ensure that capacity within member states is of the right standard such that we are fairly comfortable that member states are employing the right methodologies in their different economic periods. Now the 2020 population housing census is upon us some member states should have actually started based on the census by due to COVID those were postponed. So basically what we as a Secretariat do with regards to the population housing census Secretariat has been coordinating the regional census from since 1980 and each round which is every ten years they support the member states' goals. For this particular round was during the 2020 round we have in collaboration with member states of course developed a regional census strategy we have developed a common census questionnaire common census questionnaire basically in terms of structure member states are allowed to amend the questions that their national needs. That report ending there by Michelle Nurse of Karakom Newstime and just to note we will be having statistics officials in studio tomorrow for the edition of the Morning Brew 23rd October 2020. A St. Lucian business start-up that introduces medical tags to the Caribbean market in response to COVID-19 represents at the Entrepreneurship World Cup EWC 2020 Finals. Gilland Avril, founder of Engage competed with 99 other finalists from around the world at the MISC Global Forum event from the 18th to the 20th of October 2020. Avril was selected as the EWC Global Finalist after winning the local leg of the pitch competition. We have a report on the recent recognition ceremony held at the GIS Studios. Gilland Avril is the 2020 champion of Entrepreneurship World Cup EWC St. Lucia. In a recognition ceremony, Avril was awarded US $850,000 worth of services from global partners of EWC for his pitch to introduce meditags or medical tags to the Caribbean market in response to COVID-19. This is the latest venture under his company Engage. Avril believes that his award-winning project was fated. I had a medical condition, a heart condition and I felt that I need to bring this to light because I started a project with the ministry as I initiated a conversation with the ministry and COVID-19 stopped that. So I was like, how do I now re-initiate that conversation with the ministry of COVID-19? So I said, Michelle contacted me. I really wanted to take part in a competition. And I think two days before the end, I actually submitted my project. And lo and behold, I actually won the competition. And through Investiture for the Entrepreneurship actually opened the doors to the same thing that I wanted to have done that I could not have gotten a meeting of the CMO and her team through Investiture and Women's Competition that allowed me to do this. Avril St. Lucia's 2020 EWC champion was also given the opportunity to compete with 99 other champions from around the world in the global finals at the MISC Global Forum held virtually this year from the 18th to the 20th of October 2020. Entrepreneurship World Cup Country Director Michelle Samuel explained the journey to competing at the international level. St. Lucia's who have the dream of sharing the global stage with other phenomenal and change-making companies must first go through screening round one, the preliminaries and finally the national finals in order to get that chance. After making it to the national finals the winner will participate in EWC Accelerate II and can be selected as one of the EWC Top 100 who will then compete at the global finals in Saudi Arabia. Unfortunately, as a result of COVID the global finals will now take place online which means we can all witness it and be part of it. This summer EWC St. Lucia received 104 applications for the local leg of the competition. The top nine finalists were also recognized at the ceremony. Judges present, OECS Business Development Officer Quacy Roberts and entrepreneur Dinelle Florius offered congratulations and words of encouragement to the winner and other finalists. I want to offer special congratulations to the winners. I think you did yourselves proud, did your families proud. We would like that this fire that has started to burn in St. Lucia with what Michel is doing here and supported by Inves St. Lucia to continue to spread throughout the region. And I just want to encourage all of the entrepreneurs because being an entrepreneur myself I know how tough it is especially in the market in St. Lucia and the Caribbean as a whole it's not easy to grow a business especially a tech-based business and I'd also just like to employ you guys to never give up because that is what is going to make you successful. The EWC is pegged as one of the world's largest and most diverse pitch competitions and support programs for the next generation of entrepreneurs globally with 175,000 entrants applying from 200 countries. From the Government Information Service I am Jesse Leans reporting. Up next we have Primus Hutchinson with the NTN Nouvelle Aquial. 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. Limit the number of crew members to only essential persons. Practice frequent hand washing and cleaning of all boat surfaces. Limit contact with the public keeping a safe distance between each person. Limit unnecessary conversation with customers and pairs during the sale of fish. Wash hands frequently with soap and running water or use 60-95% alcohol-based hand sanitizer until water and soap are available. Sneeze and cough in a flexed elbow or into a tissue immediately discarding the used tissue into a bin and wash hands with soap and water with alcohol-based hand sanitizer until soap and water is available. And avoid close contact with persons having respiratory symptoms. More than ever before your important role as 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 caught fish and other seafood. Remember it is our responsibility to ensure our nation eats fresh St. Lucia's best. Welcome back. Time now for the NTN Nouvelle Aquial with Primus Hutchinson. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We have a lot of people from different countries. We have a lot of people from different countries. We really want to thank you for doing this. We want to continue to do this. One of the participants is Peter, third place. Perry Marshall, second place. And Gaelian Avril, first place. Also, Peter, second place. And all of these participants also paid $700, $900 and $1,000. We are going to continue to do this. We will continue to work hard to do this. We want to continue to do this. We are very happy to do this. Thank you, I am Jesse. program.