 Welcome to NTIA Nightly, I am General Norville. This edition, Stop Stories. Stricter measures to come into effect as the nation battles increasing cases of COVID-19. Retrofitting works at the respiratory hospital are advancing and St. Lucians in the diaspora contribute to their homeland through education. The National Emergency Management Advisory Council NIMAC on Friday held a consultation on stricter measures in the national response to COVID-19. The revision of measures comes as the island continues to record increasing cases of the virus and two related deaths. Jesse Laos has more. Stricter measures to take effect come Monday 16th November 2020. That is the word from the Honourable Prime Minister during the just concluded press conference to update the nation on the COVID-19 response. We have the authorities, the Honourable Prime Minister and also the acting commissioner of police included that they have determined that the protocols implemented two weeks ago they are not working. We had 56 new cases registered in the last 14 days. The first fatalities recorded here in St. Lucia that is two individuals succumbing to COVID-19. And one patient we heard from the CMO Dr. Sharon Belmar George is now in critical care. The chief medical officer did indicate that based on the rate of transmission cases could triple in a fortnight if there isn't across the board compliance. And coming out of today's NIMAC meeting that is the National Emergency Management Advisory Committee meeting the Prime Minister did announce the amended protocols aimed at further limiting unnecessary social interaction here in St. Lucia. Work from home where possible. Again, our intention is to work with the private sector and also the public sector to cause those persons who do not need to go to work and that they can work from home that they do so. And we're employing the cooperation of all businesses to review their current operation practices and where possible cause people to stay home. Business operating hours will remain at 9 o'clock at night with the exception of bars. Protocols have also been tightened. We have further limitations on gatherings. All bars will be closed from 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Those bars slash grocery stores in the communities can continue to offer liquor on a grab and go basis. But all places that only are bars will be asked to cease operations at 4 o'clock. And up until 4 o'clock they're only allowed to practice grab and go. Persons are not to purchase liquor at these premises and consume them on the premises or to have any form of social gathering on those premises. Alcohol sales protocols for food establishments and bars have also been amended. We're reducing church services back to 25 people. Funerals afterwards would be limited to 25 people. We're asking for the suspension of all weddings, ceremonies, asking for the suspension of all social activities including sports. Anything that would cause persons to come together, we're asking that to be suspended. So even in terms of your own home to stop from inviting your own family members for the next two weeks over to your home. So we would like to see a complete suspension of any form of social gatherings. A prohibition on all activities, gyms included, will also take effect. As mentioned earlier, we also had the acting commissioner of police, Mr Milton Daisy, on hand. And he did indicate that there has been a vast improvement on the mandatory mask laws, especially in the capital. However, they continue to contend with the illicit border entry having arrested individuals just recently. Also, we saw the continuation of persons coming in through illegal means. And so much so that last week we took in at least four individuals who had been entering, who had entered the island through the back door, as we say. The amended protocols, which will take effect on Monday 16th November 2020, will be reviewed by the authorities in a week's time. From the Government Information Service, I am Jesse Leance reporting. Retrofitting works at the respiratory hospital are advancing as health officials move to accommodate the rising number of COVID-19 patients. More in this report. In March 2020, in anticipation of the COVID-19 pandemic and community spread, the Government of Senusha proactively moved the operations of the 133-year-old Victoria Hospital to the OKEU Hospital. The Government's team of engineers then got to work transforming these buildings into the island's full-fledged respiratory hospital. We quickly retrofitted to just meet the needs at the time. But as time went by, we looked at our different sources of financing where we had the disaster vulnerability reduction project. There's a component under this project where you could activate in the event of any emergency and the pandemic was actually an emergency. The World Bank provided $5.8 million for the further expansion and a transformation of the wards to specifically accommodate the possible influx of COVID-19 patients. This included the increase in the numbers of beds and improvements to the ventilation, electrical and central cooling systems. What we've done in these areas is we've removed the walls, some internal walls and a lot of stuff that was in there during the normal use when they were using it as VH. And we've put in individual rooms and the bathrooms for each of these rooms. And we've put in staff bases in all of these areas with new walls, new floors, new ceilings, as well as putting an extraction system with UV to help kill the virus as that has been extracted. And we've put in AC units. Now in all of the wards, we have a door vent installed on all the doors. We also have a viewing panel which the nurses can view the patients from the corridor instead of entering the room to see how the patients are doing. And the bathroom is on this side. There's a shower, a face basin and a toilet. That same concept runs through all the rooms in that area. Due to the age of the Victoria Hospital, the contractors faced several unexpected delays and structural challenges. The biggest challenge for me and our contraction team has been the procurement of materials. We had to order stuff in and it took us months to come in. Here is the pediatric ward. In here we have 12 rooms. This first room here is a nurses' quarters and the others are wards for patients. As the other rooms, each room has an extractor fan coming down in the room. All the doors as well have their door grills installed. The AC units are all what we're missing within this area to be installed to balance the air pressure in this area. A lovely amount of water in the entrance as you can see that. This is a health hazard. Anybody can slip and fall at night if the light is turned off and I have to walk through. I can easily slip and fall and hurt myself. I'm a COVID patient. There is an acute danger to scare mongering which may inevitably lead to trapidations of patients presenting themselves for treatment at the respiratory facility. What has been mentioned, a lot of it is warranted but a little exaggerated. The areas where we saw the rains, that was due to some issues that were experienced in the roof. At the time of the exponential increase in the numbers, we had to make the space that we had at the time and which really does not reflect what really the real rehabilitation which took place in the hospital. So basically we had to make do with the different space areas that we had. This facility is scheduled to be complete within the next week and will accommodate 100 patients. From the Government Information Service, Lisa Joseph reporting. The Embassy of Taiwan continues to lend support to St. Lucia's national fight against the pandemic with another PPE donation. Hermadi Mark reports. The Government of Taiwan has facilitated the donation of 30,000 face masks to help in the fight against COVID-19. The honorary president of the Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce of North America, Gerald Wong, donated the face masks. The donation will aid in the protection of frontline workers and citizens of St. Lucia. Addressing the handing over ceremony, the Taiwanese Ambassador His Excellency Peter Chen says joint efforts will continue in the fight against COVID-19. We will continue to work together to come back COVID-19 and promote mutually beneficial exchanges between Taiwan, Senutia and the United States. Just last week I was proud to join Minister for Commerce, Bradley Felix and Ambassador Terila Thela to launch several events for the first-ever Senutia-Taiwan Business Partnership Week. Our goal is to promote Senutia's advantage and encourage more trade, investment and tourism. I hope business leaders in Taiwan and the US will learn more about Senutia and become as captivated by it as I have. The US Ambassador to the Eastern Caribbean, Her Excellency Linda Tagliatella expresses her elation with the donation. She says that it reinforces the deep bond of affection amongst the US, Taiwan and St. Lucia. Her Excellency Tagliatella says the coronavirus knows no boundary and reiterates that wearing a mask can stop the virus and save lives. President Gerald Wong, speaking on his donation, expresses the importance of global collaboration in health efforts and pandemic prevention. He says that not only can Taiwan help in the global efforts but is also helping through such donations. Minister of Health and Wellness Honourable Senator Mary Isaac, who was also present at the handing over ceremony, took the opportunity to thank contributors for their time in donation. This is coming at a very critical time because without your support in terms of providing us with those PPEs, we would not have been able to assist our frontline workers and other people of St. Lucia that we are providing with this mask and these other PPEs that you have provided for us. Meanwhile, Minister for External Affairs Honourable Sarah Flood-Bubra expresses thanks to Taiwan for their continued support and calls for Taiwan's inclusion into the World Health Assembly. Clearly, we have seen Taiwan's own efforts in combating this epidemic. Taiwan has been a great leader for the world in terms of how to successfully deal with this epidemic. And not just to fulfill the mantra that we've set ourselves in the SDGs of no one left behind. The whole world will stand to benefit if Taiwan is included around the table. The World Health Assembly is the body which determines policies of the World Health Organization. The Assembly is held annually in Geneva, Switzerland. From the Government Information Service, Humedi Mark reporting. A quantity of microscopes has been donated to the Ministry of Education, Innovation, Gender Relations and Sustainable Development. This is one of the latest charitable gestures of the St. Lucia's living in the diaspora. Jesse Leos has the details. 25 compound microscopes were presented to education officials this week. A St. Lucia living in the diaspora is the benefactor of this generous donation. Nelville Alphonse is resident in the United Kingdom with a background in the medical field. Ambassador for Diaspora Affairs, her Excellency Dr. Jocelyn Fletcher, commends the single-handed effort of Alphonse. This is the microscope, one of the microscopes that Nelville Alphonse has donated to the Ministry of Education. Now as Mr. Mattra said, it is very costly, one individual, and he is just one of the many we have. We're not members of associations, but they're individuals in the diaspora sending many things. We have a lot of groups and associations that come together and send things as a whole. But we have individuals who, on their own, gather supplies and donate them to St. Lucia. And Mr. Nelville Alphonse from the United Kingdom is one such person in our diaspora. Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Innovation and Gender Relations, Michelle Charles, informed that secondary school students will be the ones benefiting from this donation. We definitely have to thank Mr. Nelville Alphonse for this contribution. It is not just an ordinary contribution, but one which is targeted at one of our interventions at the Ministry of Education. We definitely know that this will have a profound impact on our steam areas, science, technology, engineering, mathematics. And so we are going to put this piece of equipment to good use. I understand that these are compound microscopes and they are going to be utilized within our secondary school science programs. Natural Sciences Curriculum Officer in the Department of Education believes the inclusion of the equipment in its science programs will spark greater interest in these subject areas. Science is a big priority for the Department of Education. And as such, you know a lot of resources is being placed into STEM education. And when we have persons from the diaspora like Mr. Nelville Alphonse who demonstrate his nationalism and how patriotic he is by making such a great contribution, you have to admire this. And we say a special thank you to him and other persons like him who would make the contribution in such a valuable way. The donation was channeled through the collaborative efforts of the Diaspora Affairs Unit and the St. Lucia Social Development Fund, SSDF. Alison Mathra is the SSDF's Executive Director. We know already that our children are challenged with math and science in the math and sciences area. And of course we are challenged by financial constraints. And so this presentation is very meaningful. I want to take this opportunity to reach out to the diaspora, whether it's through the associations of St. Lucia and living overseas or through individuals. We welcome everything that you can send to us that we can pass on to the people in need. Immediately following the microscope's presentation, a barrel of school supplies donated by the Caribbean American Heritage Foundation of Texas was handed over to the SSDF for its Our Boys Matter program. The Government of St. Lucia has engaged its diaspora as development partners, exploring human and social synergies beyond remittance transfers. Ambassador Dr. Fletcher is pleased with the response so far. From the Government Information Service, I am Jesse Leance reporting. The Zooks Untitled sponsor Indibeth has handed over a check of US $10,000 to the Ministry of Education. This amount was pledged by Indibeth and will go towards providing laptops for the underprivileged children of St. Lucia who are unable to attend school due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the 2020 Caribbean Premier League CPL, Indibeth agreed to provide US $100 for every boundary scored, US $150 for every six-hit, and US $200 for every wicket taken by the St. Lucia Zooks. Indibeth further agreed to top up the contribution to US $10,000. Sumo Plesi is the representative for the St. Lucia Zooks and Indibeth. This is specifically to go towards students in need that are suffering somewhat from this pandemic. We'd like to say to the Ministry of Education that we are behind their backs and we are supporting them. Indibeth is pleased to be on board and certainly they look forward to the success of those students. It gives me great pleasure to express our most profound thanks to the Zooks and Lucia Zooks and Indibeth for their generous donation of US $10,000. That gift will come in very handy, especially since it is intended for students who are economically challenged. Given that now we've had to transition to online learning, we know that that will go a long way to lend the necessary assistance to those most in need. It is good to know that we have benevolent partners like you and I'm even more compelled to lend my full support to what you do not only in terms of sports but for the broader social development of our people. So thank you very much on behalf of the Ministry and the beautiful children of this nation. Thank you. The donation was made on Thursday 12th November 2020. The Blood Bank Department of the Israel Long Laboratory informs the public of a blood drive at the Barbono Multipurpose Center on Sunday November 15, 2020 from 10am to 2pm. Donors are asked to have a proper breakfast and take any required medication before coming to donate blood. COVID-19 protocols will be in full effect. Donors are asked to wear their masks. The hands of persons will be sanitized with an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Also, temperature checks will be undertaken before starting the donation process. The Ministry of Equity, Social Justice, Local Government and Empowerment wishes to notify all clients of the Public Assistance Programme of Barbono, Castries, Grosile and Soussi Millet regions that payment for the month of October will commence from Monday 16th November to Friday 20th November 2020 at the Castries City Hall from 9am to 2pm daily. Up next, Primus Hutchinson with the Antian Nouvelle Aquial Keeping hands clean is important for good health. However, after a disaster staying clean is hard to do, especially if there is no pipe-borne water. Simple things you can do to stay clean and remain healthy are, wash your hands with soap and clean water. If these are not available, sanitizers with alcohol are options. Wash your hands many times during the day before preparing food, eating, caring for a sick person or baby, treating a cut wound or sore. Wash hands after using the bathroom, changing diapers, caring for animals, caring for sick or injured persons after handling garbage. Washing your hands is one of the best ways to prevent illness. For further information, contact the Bureau of Health Education at telephone number 468-5349. Welcome back. We join Primus Hutchinson for the Antian Nouvelle Aquial. Thank you very much, General. Thank you to the University Department for the information about the government of the ICGIS and the National Television of the Antian Nouvelle Aquial. Thank you to Primus Hutchinson. Ladies and gentlemen, we have just started the new Antian Nouvelle Aquial. We are going to start the meetings and discussions with the Prime Minister. We are going to talk to all the good guys in the same office with the other people who are engaged in the project. What we are going to learn is that the decisions I have made to reduce the number of people who serve the Church, such as the Assembly of the Church, it is second to remain in the same public sector. We are going to serve the Church for the rest of the people who serve the Church. We are going to do the first thing. First, we need to look at the climate. After going through the cold and the winter, we need to look at the weather, then we need to rotate to make our return to the West Sea. Pujis, ah, Seke, didé mais, ah, Osswe, sa. Ah, Bommathé, sa. Neve, Osswe, Pujis, Seke, Bommathé. No kanipi nouvelle ase sa. Ah, Semenna, as we develop my meeting ne m'a clav. Bon, kompani, dwoh, aset ly sih, wasco, j'ai annoseki, twahwaiai punitwaai ek fuyé dam dwoh John Compton, j'ai a komasei, goin' wezebloh salah, kika putiwe service dwoh, to commerce 413,000 people across the North this year, as well as across the West I was affected severely by the lack of a lot of people in the area because of the rain and rain that happened last year. It was then that I was affected in the year 1945. The work that I have done to attract people in the area is the second part of the project to redevelop the reserve. First of all, it was to build a place to deposit all the orders that were placed at the bottom of the room at John Compton. It was easy to deposit the area I finished, built it completely and built it lower on the way to John Compton. There was also a capacity to accommodate 150 cubic metres of orders that went out to John Compton. For example, for Dredge Damlan I started at Maroc Trobbe in 2002 for Dredge Salah to clean the bottom of John Compton which was accessible to water security to make it not pay and also to assist water services to make it more reliable and to make a contribution in a way that is more significant to the national economy this year. The Prime Minister of this year who is also the Minister of Finance in Shassney, I said that I would work to establish my own facility in the Victoria Hospital which is now available to address diseases and diseases. The Prime Minister of Shassney declared that the government has pushed for a new day to improve the operation of various facilities in the hospital. If the Prime Minister of Shassney works presently to place the capacity of the hospital to reach a capacity of 226 beds the Prime Minister also said that he will continue to improve the way he establishes his facility the Prime Minister of Shassney said that he will continue to finance the operation of the medical equipment to address diseases in the hospital. Thank you very much to the Executive Director of Victoria Hospital Ecoen King, Nancy Francis who spoke about the situation in the public at the time of the Victoria Hospital and talked about the pleasant situation that affected the operation of the hospital. For example, there are more people who have been affected by the corona and there is a pleasant opportunity for them to work and to start but as the work is done and then at high speed all the facilities that are in place to meet the best treatment and the work to be done will be done and the work to be done will be done and the work to be done will be done at high speed and to meet the best treatment of the hospital. Thank you very much to the Executive Director of Victoria Hospital Ecoen King, Nancy Francis who spoke about the situation A GD, which has existed for a long time. Robots who have contributed to the work of the Salar Abad Direction, Minister of Construction, and you have explained in this way what you have done to facilitate your project that is more advanced to your work in the Salar region. If we go back to the past, before we came to the Old Calde Mathieu, then we would go back to the region. We are not going to go back to the region only because if we go back to the region, we are not going to go back to the same old Calde Mathieu. We are going to go back to the French Dune. So we have to go back to the region. So what we have done is that we have done it back to the present, with the work that we have done, and we are going to continue to work in the West London with good content. Well, Mr. Engineer, we have to go back to the past because we are going to do business with the work that we have done and we are going to work with the government. Is that a discussion? Is it a conversation that we can compensate to the work that we have done to facilitate the situation? We are not going to compensate for what we have done. What we are going to do is we are going to do the homework. We are going to do the corridor work. We are going to go back to the government but we are not going to go back to the past. If we have done the work that we have done before, we are going to go back to the old Calde Mathieu. We are going to go back to the old Calde Mathieu we are not going to do that. We are going to do the whole thing. We are going to go back to the old Calde Mathieu and we will be the ones who will go back to the old Calde Mathieu. The new Calde Mathieu was spent $15,000, and it has been more advanced in this area. The work that we have done is based on our wishes, and that is how it was. I thank Mr. Ota for his invitation. If you want to save your life, you have to go to New York City. I hope everyone has a good end of the week and please, please, if you are suffering from corona, you have to save your life, and my family and my friends. Thank you very much. Merci à Pil Primus. And that brings us to the end of NTN Nightly. Join us next time at 7pm before we repeat at 7am. You can also catch up with us anytime on the St. Lucia Government Facebook page or YouTube channel. I am General Norvel.