 Welcome to NTIA Nightly. I am Genelle Norvel. This edition stops stories. St. Lucia receives its much anticipated shipment of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines. The 758 care load app is now ready for use. And the government has increased access to funding for mitigating the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19. St. Lucia has turned another major corner in the national response to COVID-19. The island has received its much anticipated AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from India. More in this report. A regional security services aircraft touched down at the George F. L. Charles airport Monday morning, stocked with 25,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine produced in India. The Serum Institute of India, one of the world's largest vaccine producers, is produced in Covishield, developed by AstraZeneca PLC. St. Lucia is among 49 countries in the Caribbean, Latin America, Asia and Africa to receive mostly free of charge the AstraZeneca under the Government of India's Vaccine Friendship Program. The initiative assists poorer countries in gaining access to vaccines. India has distributed 22.9 million doses under the program. Madhu Aznani, who represented the Indian High Commission, says the Government of India is committed to using the country's high-tech biopharma infrastructure to serve and protect humanity. As a result, India has so far conducted over 215 million COVID tests with an impressive recovery rate of 97.14 percent and fatality rate of only 1.4 percent. As is well known, India has been supplying affordable and low-cost generic drugs to millions of people across the globe and has come to know, to be known as Pharmacy of the World and producer of choice for vaccines. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that India can not only innovate but also rapidly distribute time-sensitive, crucial drugs to every part of the globe that needs it. Intune with its philosophy of the whole world is one family. Prime Minister Hon. Alan Shastain, receiving the shipment, expressed gratitude toward Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his continuous, tangible support for St. Lucia and the rest of Karakam. And this level of commitment and, more importantly, sincerity. He has certainly gained a very special place, I believe in the hearts and the minds of all of us in Karakam because his have not just been words, but he has continuously supported his commitment with action. Whether it be from climate change, whether it be from negotiations at the World Bank and the IMF and at the G7 he has been a voice that we can count upon. This donation of vaccines will significantly strengthen the national COVID-19 vaccination campaign. The administering of vaccines in St. Lucia began on Wednesday, February 17, 2021 and for the past two weeks it has been focused on vaccinating those who are at the highest risk of being exposed to the virus, that is healthcare workers in clinical settings, first responders, security service personnel and other frontline workers. All of these personnel are within Phase 1A of the vaccination program and as such were given first priority for receiving the vaccine. This week the national COVID-19 vaccination campaign will continue with frontline workers and Phase 1B will also commence. In Phase 1B people who are 65 years and older, residents of elderly homes and people living with chronic health conditions will be vaccinated. As such, phases 1A and 1B will be taking place at the same time. Like Dominique and Barbados, St. Lucia is sharing its doses with Grenada, which was not included in this current batch of donated vaccines from India. Antigua gave 5,000 of their allocation, St. Kitsunevis gave 2,000, St. Vincent gave 5,000 and St. Lucia has given 5,000. So the 25,000 that we've received today, 5,000 of them will be set aside and will be delivered to Grenada tomorrow. And that is to say that there are more vaccines on the way. In the coming weeks, vaccination will be extended to the thousands of St. Lucia to have registered for the COVID-19 vaccine. Announcements of this shall be made by the Ministry of Health of the schedule of these other phases in preparation for commencement. From the Government Information Service, Lisa Joseph reporting. More advancements are being made in St. Lucia's management of the pandemic. The Ministry of Health and Wellness is improving its response to COVID-19 with the introduction of a new digital tool in the fight against COVID-19. The 758 Care Alert app is now ready for use. Acting National Epidemiologist Dr. Dana de Costa Gomez says St. Lucia is now on par with the rest of the world in harnessing digital technologies to support the public health response to COVID-19. Contact tracing is the cornerstone of preventative medicine and a public health strategy in reducing the rate of transmission of a disease. However, the conventional method is a laborious process. Time consuming can quickly overwhelm a health system with an increase in case incidents as is being experienced at the moment. Heavily dependent on the confirmed cases memory, recall capability, physical status, honesty and up-to-date phone records. 758 Care Alerts will provide an avenue where we, public health officials can more accurately get information on the contacts of confirmed cases. The app has two components, a mobile component and a web-based tool. Once the mobile component is downloaded on the user's phone and the GPS is turned on by the user, all the locations which the user has visited in the past 14 days will be recorded on the user's phone. The user, if confirmed, can then submit the location data to the health authorities by pressing the submit button of the application. The app reduces the risk of privacy violations as there is time-limited storage of data on the user's own device and requires the user's consent to share the data. The location data is submitted to the web-based component held by the health authorities or contact tracers. This allows for a more efficient interview of the confirmed case and creates an anonymous map of public places and times where they have been. This app will improve contact tracing activities by allowing public health officials to more efficiently identify exposed contacts, communicate and advise them on testing and quarantine. For this app to produce the desired results, it is necessary that all solutions downloaded app to allow for effective contact tracing should one be confirmed with COVID-19. The app can be downloaded from the Apple or Google Play Store by searching for 758 Care Alert. On Sunday, February 28, 2021, the Ministry of Health and Wellness reported one COVID-19 related death bringing the total number of deaths in country to date to 36. The deceased is a 90-year-old male from the Viewport District with underlying medical illnesses who passed away while in care. The related death came on the same day that 103 individuals recovered from the disease. The Ministry of Health and Wellness has approved three antigen tests for use in St. Lucia. They are the FORA COVID-19 Antigen Test, the Abort Pan-Bio COVID-19 Antigen Test and the SD Bioscience Standard Cue. Astrid Mondezi is the drug inspector in the Ministry. The rapid antigen tests are approved for use under the following circumstances as a prescreening tool for symptomatic persons and contacts for persons traveling to the United States. Private labs must request permission from the Department of Health and Wellness through the Chief Medical Officer to perform rapid antigen tests. The following laboratories are designated to carry out the Polymerase Chain Reaction PCR Test, that is the Ezra Long Laboratory at the Owen King EU Hospital and the Forensic Science Laboratory. To perform antigen tests, the following labs, laboratory services on consultations limited, Microlab Inc., global clinical laboratories, Descartes laboratories, and Alpha and Omega laboratory services. All positive results must be reported to the epidemiological unit on a daily basis. Tests should be procured from manufacturers who work under a quality management system. Suppliers recommended procedures must be strictly followed. The Department of Health and Wellness will be monitoring and evaluating test activities. The use of rapid tests which are not authorized by the Department of Health and Wellness is discouraged. Importation and queries of rapid antigen tests will be addressed by the Department of Health and Wellness for the Office of the Drug Inspector. That was Drug Inspector Astrid Mondezi. St. Lucia is positioned to have increased access to funding for the management and mitigating the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19. Parliament has approved the borrowing of 30 million US dollars from the International Development Association to finance the COVID-19 response, recovery, and resilience development policy program. Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, the Honourable Alan Shastney, says the funds would go towards addressing the many challenges posed by COVID-19. The negative impact on St. Lucia's productive capacity public and private sectors is directly correlated with the performance of the fiscal accounts. Our fiscal space has been constrained by the low performance of central government revenue and increased public health care expenditure. This limits the extent to which policy measures can be adopted to provide adequate stimulus to cushion shocks from the current economic downturn. Mr. Speaker, this policy-based loan is underpinned by prioritized structural reform measures agreed with the World Bank on the IDA-19 Sustainable Development Financing Policy. This program supports the government's actions to recover the economy from the short-term impact of COVID-19, especially in relation to the health sector and continue to provide relief to vulnerable households and businesses. The program also seeks to build cross-sectoral resilience through the strengthening of public sector governments and provide the impetus for private sector participation in the overall economic recovery. The COVID-19 development policy program is expected to leverage government's efforts in three primary areas. Protecting lives and livelihoods in response to COVID-19, this will be achieved by continuing to focus on structural measures and interventions that will strengthen the social protection system for the most vulnerable. Two, ensuring business continuity and strengthening resilience. This component will focus on our current efforts in saving jobs as well as strengthening the support to the fishery sector through the implementation of the insurance mechanism, Caribbean Oceans and Aquaculture Sustainability Facility, COST. In relation to business continuity, additional liquidity support will be made available to medium, small and micro enterprises as we work towards economy-wide recovery. Legislative reforms, the third area will focus on supporting reforms in the areas of public financial management, public procurement as well as the improvements of public debt transparency and public debt management for the post-crisis recovery. With the view of saving lives and preserving livelihoods, the government of St. Lucia, since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, has embarked on several initiatives channeling significant resources in that regard. Prime Minister Hon. Shasne noted that these included initiatives identified in the social stabilization program and the economic recovery and resilience plan as well as the initial health response. Some of these initiatives are expected to continue into the new fiscal year and will require significant financial outlays. The sharp increase in positive COVID-19 cases has increased the pressure on an already fragile health sector. Despite the sector benefiting from significant donor financial and technical assistance, a huge deficit still remains. The sums expanded in retrofitting and outfitting the respiratory hospital and clinics, rental of premises to serve as isolation and quarantine facilities, and the increased capacity for testing significantly impacted the government's financial resources. Mr. Speaker, the DPC will finance both capital investments as well as current expenditure in 2021-22 budget. It will not only support the containment of the spread of COVID-19 among the citizens, but will under-grid the economic recovery of our economy. Prime Minister Hon. Shasne speaking in Parliament, February 23, 2021. The St. Lucia and Martinique Medical Fraternity joined forces to combat COVID-19, moin this report from Funnel Neptune. The Owen King European Union OKEU Hospital recently welcomed a donation of medical supplies and a team of medical practitioners from the neighboring island of Martinique. This initiative is expected to assist St. Lucia's efforts at treating patients diagnosed with the COVID-19 virus. Medical Director of the OKEU Hospital and the Victoria Hospital, Dr. Lucia Eugene Ford expressed her gratitude towards the medical staff of the French department. From last week, we received one of the physicians, Dr. Hussain Medawi, who's the head of ICU in University of Martinique. He came across last week to assist us with the management of COVID-19 cases. Today, we have another physician who has always been working with us, Dr. Dabarazier, and he's come across not only with himself and a team, but across medical supplies so that we can help or care for our patients with COVID-19 illness. A member of the medical team from Martinique, Dr. Dabarazier, displayed his sense of obligation to St. Lucia in its time of need. The University Hospital of Martinique is pleased to be able to assist the people of St. Lucia, especially in the time of need. It is a continuing medical education which has been ongoing for decades, we can say. So, I look forward during my week here to maintaining continued education, training to professionals of St. Lucia and we welcome them to come to our University Hospital. Over the coming weeks, medical practitioners from the Owen King EU Hospital and the Victoria Hospital will receive additional training on the management of COVID-19 from the Martinique Medical Team. Reporting from the Communications Unit of the Ministry of Health and Wellness, I am Colonel Neptune. This is NTIA Knightly, up next, Primus Hutchinson with the NTIA Nouvelle Quayol. It's her, the Biointellicence Biobutton, an elevation to the Ministry of Health's approach in battling COVID-19. The Biobutton is a state-of-the-art device that 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 100 US for the 14-day period. For further information, please contact the Epidemiology Unit at 468-5325 or 468-5324. Welcome back. Please join Primus Hutchinson for the NTIA Nouvelle Quayol. In February 2015, the first country to find a new business was in December 2017. There was also a new solar system in 2018. That was after the government made a commitment to address all the weaknesses that the U.S. has discovered in the international business sector in the past year. The government was able to work to establish all the needs that the European Organization has achieved in terms of description and international business. Excellent. The government was able to work to establish a new business in the past year. The government was able to implement a new legislation to establish a new government for the legislation that already existed. All this business was necessary to find consideration that was possible by the European Union. It was a new work that was already implemented by the European Union to establish a new company that can operate in the country and also in the international country. From this company to the next, economic needs were developed in 2017. The government was able to work to establish a new business in the past year. The government was able to work in the last year in a business where the government had to work to establish a new business that was already established in 2017. The government was able to work to establish a new business Caribe, I have done a presentation like this before for the government of this place and especially for the ministry of health. So, the ministry of health and the government of this place have appreciated all of this and we are very happy for the Caribe-Hod Martinique Club and the representatives of this place, the Martinique country, to continue to help to assist in the fight against the corona virus. I also thank the Caribe-Hod Minister for his assistance in the fight against the corona virus because it is the first time that he has been assisted here. I declare that this is a very good place for the government of this place to support the health situation in this place. This is a very good place for the health center but also for the government of this place to support the ministry of health. If you know of any of them, I have also strengthened cooperation with good friends in this place and Martinique. The ministry of health has begun their consumers. I have organized their video production competitions. The event began on February 22, 2020 for the 7th and the 1st of May 2020 to buy publicity for Goa Spectac from our 10th anniversary of the 2020 competition. It is to help improve and make the consumers more aware and also to increase their local products in the place of the country. Minister Kaweki, I trust the quality of this activity and help the consumers to develop a more qualitative way to serve the consumers in the same way. Competition is to participate in your video which will be published in a few seconds to help increase the quality of local products. Video is also to help increase the logo of Love St. Lucia. This participant is to place a video on her Facebook page, Ministry of Commerce, Ektag Love St. Lucia, Ektag Commerce St. Lucia. The last game to place a video is on August 12th, 2021, not later than the 4th afternoon. The first prize is $3,000, the second prize is $1,000, and the third is $6,000. The next prize is for videos that are no longer available. For more information, please contact Cindy Eugene at 285-1156.cindy.ugin.gov.lc. Thank you so much for your invitation. I hope to see you again in the next video. Thank you and see you again in the next video.