 Welcome to NTN Nightly, I am Genelle Norvell, this edition's top stories. Education and health officials consider several possible COVID-related scenarios and responses ahead of the second school term. The refurbishing of the CDC building's nearest completion and the carry-com nations ensure they are not left out by the COVID-19 vaccine rush. The opening of the second term of the school year to face-to-face instruction is critical not only for the education sector, but the nation as a whole. So says Chief Education Officer Dr Fiona Philip Meyer. On Monday 11 January 2021, students will return to the classrooms guided though by strict COVID-19 protocols. Dr Meyer says having schools closed for the better part of last year has had a detrimental impact on students, teachers and parents. Her ministries of education and health she informed during an update to the nation have devised several COVID-related scenarios and responses for the reopening of schools. The possibility of an individual or student getting ill at school, a member of a family that is in close contact in quarantine, a possible teacher or staff member who tests positive for quarantine, quite a few scenarios and looked at them in depth giving the medical, the scientific, but also the human element of how to deal with those situations on a school level. Chief Environmental Health Officer Parker Ragnanan says given the experience gathered last year in managing COVID-19, the Ministry of Health is confident that school can resume in the physical setting and any major catastrophe can be avoided. The classroom comprehensive school experience was just one such experience and 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. The other thing is that we are asking as much as possible for us not to stigmatize and to discriminate and that is very important. Sometimes we've heard about persons talking about a contact of a contact of a contact. So you're not evenly with that person, but because you're a family member, you are singled out as being a potential contact. At the Ministry of Health, we have fine-tuned our contact tracing capability and like I've said, we have improved significantly on our state of preparedness and therefore we are in a position now to work with our community nursing, to work with our epidemiology unit in terms of contact tracing and have very clear procedures and guidelines to do contact tracing in a school and who is at risk at a school if it's one classroom, if it's an entire block, if it's a whole form, if it's the entire school and therefore the procedures would kick in once they have to. Mr Ragnan says a strategic approach will be taken if there were to be COVID-related cases at any school. We need to look at the schooling question, the population of that school, the at-risk groups, the numbers that we have. So again, there may be situations where if you have one case in a school, depending as to how many is exposed to that case, you may have to close back that school. You may have 10 cases in a school, but depending on how it's managed, you may not have to close the entire school. So it depends on the dynamics. There are different dynamics that would determine the way forward. And so we're looking at different modalities and different plans as to how do we best manage a situation of nature. So we don't just pick 10 or 15 just like this. Chief Environmental Health Officer, Parker Ragnan. The Ministry of Education, meanwhile, created an upbeat atmosphere ahead of the second school term with a live concert Friday aired on the National Television Network, NTN. We are endeavoring to set the right tone to welcome you back into the classrooms on Monday. So if you can't dance along, do that. Step away from your television screen, maybe hug your tablet a little closer. We want you to participate fully even though you're not here in the studio with us. But we're doing this for our students, for our teachers, for all the people who have worked tirelessly over the last few weeks and months in particular. Hey, you there. You who are watching. I wonder how you're feeling. Wasn't it all so confusing? How things just kept on changing? So before September, I am sure you remember. I give you glory. Because of who you are. I'll give you praise. I know your life, I felt your pain. I know your joys and your shame. Sometimes it feels like life walks over you like your opinion. And you can view the entire concert on the Government of St. Lucia Facebook page and YouTube and on replay on NTN. The Department of Education has extended kindergarten registration for the academic year 2021-2022 for schools within the Castries Basin from January 11 to the 18th, 2021, online at www.kregistration.education.gov. This late registration exercise will facilitate parents and guardians who have not registered their child award for entry into kindergarten for the following schools. For further information or clarification, please call 468-525-9 468-525-9 468-525-9 468-525-9 468-525-9 468-525-9 468-525-9 468-525-8 or WhatsApp 720-3252. As the Caribbean prepares for the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, communications and health promotion specialists from across the region have been honing their risk communication skills so that they can effectively respond to people's concerns, opinions, emotions and reactions. At the same time, caricum leaders and agencies are pressing on with avenues to access the vaccine. More from Toussaint King English Francis of Caricum News Time. Having a vaccine alongside other treatments for COVID-19 is billbilled as the exit strategy from the pandemic, but as the larger richer nations of the world queue up for Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Where does that leave Caricum countries? Caricum's Assistant Secretary-General for Human and Social Development Dr. Douglas Slater told Caricum News Time in an invited comment that not only does the huge demand and cost for the first COVID-19 vaccine present access challenges for Caricum countries, but also the logistical arrangement to receive, store and distribute the vaccine would require significant investments by Caricum member states. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine requires a deep-freeze delivery chain and freezer storage facility at minus 70 degrees Celsius. We do have hopes of access, but we cannot yet tie down exactly how much and when. Another challenge is that the lead vaccines that have either been approved, as you may have heard of Pfizer, or about being approved, they are expensive. And two, the logistics required to use them may well be beyond the capability of most of our member states. Why? Because they require ultra-low temperatures for storage that is not the standard storage temperatures that most of our member states use to store their vaccines. And therefore, if we are going to use them significantly, there might be need for investment or expenditure in new scarce, expensive equipment to store them. So how do Caricum member states access a vaccine to combat COVID-19? Dr. Slater said PAHO WHO is supporting its member countries, including those of Caricum, through the access to COVID-19 tools, ACT Accelerator. The COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Co-Fac facility is a vaccine pillar of the ACT Accelerator and a globally coordinated mechanism to provide equal access and affordable options for all participating countries. COVAX is co-led by GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and the WHO. GAVI is the COVAX facility administrator and is responsible for making investments across a broad portfolio of promising vaccine candidates. Dr. Slater said Caricum member states were encouraged to join this facility, and many have already done so. Main Time Barbados' Prime Minister Honourable Mia Motley has told the sixth edition of the Caribbean Economic Forum that the inclusion of the tourism sector is facing immediate and immense pressure on governments across the region to meet the decline in earning power of residents and firms. In the case of Barbados, Honourable Motley says rather than recapitalizing the social security system, a government diverted resources to support workers in the hospitality industry and to keep the hotel stock open even in the absence of tourists. We are still finding ourselves, as we've indicated, dealing with the major sector of tourism, where rather than seeking to simply go and recapitalize the social security system, we took a decision that we needed to have job support for the workers at the same time as we need to be able to make sure that we can keep the hotel stock open because if the hotels close, tiles will start to blow, bathrooms stop working, plumbing stops working, and all of these things will inevitably lead to a deterioration of the capital stock such that when the tourists are ready to come back, we will not have any hotels appropriately accommodate them in good order. Prime Minister Motley has called for the establishment of a Caribbean Recovery and Resilience Trust Fund to support recovery from natural and other disasters including COVID-19. The CDC buildings were constructed in an effort to provide housing to those who lost their homes to the 1948 fire in Castries. The project was funded by the colonial Development Corporation, hence the apartment complex being referred to as the CDC. The National Housing Corporation is responsible for the Castries Housing Estate, commonly referred to as the Old CDC, and the Darling Road Housing Estate, commonly referred to as the New CDC. The cooperation embarked on the beautification and restoration of the Darling Road Housing Estate, which comprises 10 apartment blocks and 42 shopping units. Sidonia Childs is the Acting Managing Director of the National Housing Corporation. We're taking a holistic approach to remedying a lot of the issues that we're having within the city, within the CDCs. We started our identification project with the Ministry of Health sometime in June, and it ran until December. Minister of Responsibility for External Affairs and the Parliamentary Representative for Castries Central Honourable Sarah-Flood Borbren explained that the project is beneficial on many fronts, addressing the needs of residents while providing much-needed employment at this time. I want to say how very pleased I am, how much I welcome the opportunity for some of our constituents to find employment. As this will progress, of course, we would have liked to employ many more persons, but we look for other opportunities to ensure that we continue to provide employment for the constituents. For us, this is just a first step to really enhancing this area for our residents. Of course, there are other concerns that we would like to address in terms of the general upkeep, the security, the safety and the overall aesthetics of the environment. The contractor on the project, Cyril Donnelly, indicated that residents, shop owners and the public have been very accommodating and understanding during the works. Presently, we remain about 48 workers in all. I divided the project into seven pieces. I have seven subcontractors. Each of them have a villain. For all in all, the tenants are happy. Public eyes are happy. And I am happy that I have delivered on time or ahead of time. As part of the project, Civil Works will also be conducted and includes the resurfacing of car parks and landscaping. This is NTN Nightly. Stay with us. Primer's Hutchinson is up next with the NTN Nouvelle Aquial. Be aware of and follow water conservation practices. Here are a few tips to help you save water. Wash dishes in a basin of water instead of a running tap. Soak pots and pans instead of letting the water run while scraping them. Check toilets for leaks by putting dye in the tank. If color shows in the bowl without flushing, there is a leak. A leaking toilet can waste thousands of gallons of water. Use a bucket instead of a hose to wash cars and reuse grey water from laundry to water plants. Water conservation reduces energy consumption and strain on the water distribution system. Conserve water whenever possible and remember, every job counts. A message brought to you by the Water and Sewage Company Incorporated, WASCO. Welcome back. We join Primer's Hutchinson for the NTN Nouvelle Aquial. Mr. Otin Genel, Mr. Madame de Batemarque University of Disabilities for Information in the government of the ICGIS and the National Television of NTN Caposito Nouvelle Aquial visit our Primer's Hutchinson. When can you prepare the coffee for the season of the Nouvelle Aquial starting from the good work that is the school. Minister of Education, Dr. Gayle Riegel, I have called on the parents, students and the general public to get a good portion of the power that the government has to provide for the protection of coronavirus cases in order to reduce this capability of being able to continue to eat. The school of the country is closed in October last year as a result of the increase in the number of coronavirus cases. The Ministry of Education, who works in its place, has been able to see where the schools are, as I mentioned here, with the help of the Head of Education and the Health Department. This discussion is about the participation of the Education Officers and the implementation of the school. The institutes, the UN, the teachers and the institutes, have been discussing how to work with the teachers at this school to start working on the fourth day of January, 2020. My preparations for the school have officially begun. The first day of January is on Friday. Dr. Rigomot Baas, the Minister of Education, has always made a commitment to keep the affairs of the students with the institutes so that they can continue their work as soon as possible, so that they can continue their work. The Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Education, has also made a commitment to keep the students with the institutes working on the fourth day of January, 2020. Dr. Rigomot Baas, the Head of Education, Dr. Fiona Meyer, has also made a commitment to to keep the students with the institutes working on the fourth day of January, 2020. The Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Education, has also made a commitment to keep the students with the institutes working on the fourth day of January, 2020. The Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Education, has made a commitment to to keep the students with the institutes working on the fourth day of January, 2020. The Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Education, has also made a commitment to keep the students with the institutes Fidiaio and Samete, Fescilio also. With Nuka Ese, who is still living in the city. Even with what we have done, even if we had a mother who was still a child, even with that child, we want to do it with a change. We still have to do it for the health of our children. And also with Placement Desk and Shares, which I joined from WHO, World Health Organization who is still living in the city, who said, Placement Desk, Placement Desk, Placement Desk, Placement Desk, Placement Desk, Placement Desk, Placement Desk, Placement Desk, Placement Desk, Placement Desk, Placement Desk, Sp Vai. There are been many cases where they keep donation for the children, sem being safe for the mother in one way or another it affects the positive. The Education Minister a studio GIS NTN Monday afternoon by the institute to celebrate the start of the school year 2020. Divisions of the University of St. Louis to serve men in the Ministry of Equality are celebrated by a lot of people who have come here to celebrate the success of Victor Rosemond-Smith On January 1st, 1921, in Paroues-Sal-Tibus-sur-Azei, there were only ten people who were still alive. Mr. Smith was a cultivator and a farmer who was passionate about animals. He also played the guitar and the story was more young. To distinguish himself, Mr. Smith was living in St. Louis, and it was the most important institution in the world. Mr. Smith and I, Mr. Otton, we are very happy to have you here to celebrate the success of Victor Rosemond-Smith. We are very happy to have you here to celebrate the success of Victor Rosemond-Smith. Please catch up with us anytime on the St. Lucia Government Facebook page or YouTube channel. I am Janelle Norville.