 Welcome to NTN Nightly. I am Genelle Norville. This edition, Stop Stories. Amended COVID-19 prevention and control protocols take effect March 17, 2021. The current epidemiological curve indicates an encouraging downward turn. And the Simply Health Foundation makes its annual donation to St Lucia. Following a meeting of the National Emergency Management Advisory Committee, NIMAC, and based on advice from the Command Centre, the Government of St Lucia has amended the COVID-19 prevention and control protocols effective Wednesday, March 17, 2021, until Friday, April 16, 2021. Details on the adjustment in just a moment, first a look at the data that informed the decision process. At the presentation to NIMAC on Thursday, March 11, Chief Medical Officer Dr Sharon Belmar George explained that we are still in a critical position when it comes to COVID-19. Although we have recorded successes and the current epidemiological curve indicates an encouraging downward turn in the rate of transmission. St Lucia at 12 of March 2021 had recorded 3,748 recoveries of COVID-19 cases. Speaking during an update to the nation, Chief Medical Officer Dr Sharon Belmar George disclosed that the island had conducted some 33,348 COVID-19 tests and the number of active cases stood at 218, with 66 being at the Baudelaire Correctional Facility and 152 from the community. To date, the island has recorded 15 cases of the British variant, the only variant identified in country to date. The Chief Medical Officer said the Ministry of Health has noted a steady rate of decrease in positive COVID-19 cases. Our daily infection rate is 8.2 per 100,000. Our testing positivity within the last 7 days is 13% and within the last 7 days, the previous 7 days it was 20%. So we continue to see a decrease in our positivity and our rate of transmission is now at 1.6. There are three orange lines, the three taller bars. I just want to indicate that those three bars represent the cases that we are managing at the Baudelaire Correctional Facility and these are not community cases. Those three bars which seem to fall out of the EPI curve, I thought needed a level of explanation. These are due to the outbreak at the Baudelaire Correctional Facility. We note our small wave in March, which is a very little blimp. We had a second wave in October which went into November and our third wave that we've managed between January and February and it is coming which is clearing up at this point. We note the rate of decrease in cases and not just in our testing we see in the decrease. On a weekly basis we note a reduction in persons at the respiratory clinics. We've been noting through our surveillance a reduction in the number of persons with respiratory signs and symptoms and we've also been seeing reductions in terms of admissions at the respiratory hospital. Majority of the positive COVID-19 cases recorded to date fall between the ages of 25 and 49, followed by ages 50 years and older. Poor age groups account for a smaller percentage with school age that is 0 to 17 years, accounting for only 9.2% of total cases. These individuals have no too mild symptoms and recover well. 53% of the total positive COVID-19 cases are female. The distribution of cases is highest in the castries district, followed by grossly, barbano and ancillary canrys. Dr Belmar George warned that while majority of the indicators are pointing to the flattening of the curve, St Lucia is not yet out of the woods. We are pleased for the reduction in cases but it does not indicate that we are yet in a safe place. We still have, like I indicated, over 100 active cases, 152 active cases within the community and we would like to bring this number down further before we will feel comfortable. So it is important that although we are pleased with the rate of decrease to date, it is not an indication for us to let our guard down. We still have to ensure we are very vigilant and we maintain all of the measures. It is not an indication for us to socialize or to relax the measures. We still need to monitor very closely so we maintain the gains that we have seen thus far. The chief medical officer is urging all St Lucia's not to let the guard down but instead to continue to adhere to all stipulated protocols. Among the decisions announced was a curfew adjustment effective March 17 during the hours of 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. daily. During the Easter weekend, April 2 to the 5th, the curfew will run from 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. daily and thereafter it will go back to 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. All agencies and businesses will continue to implement a blended service operations approach which includes work from home where possible for employees. Staff and board meetings will be held virtually or online platforms as much as possible. Separate provisions apply for key approved sectors, e.g. essential services, construction, manufacturing and call centers. Business operating hours. All business operations and commercial activities must end by 8 p.m. daily as guided by curfew enforced through the state of emergency. This requires all businesses including supermarkets and restaurants to completely shut their doors and business activities by 8 p.m. in order to curb movement past 9 p.m. Restrictions on social gatherings. Social gatherings are restricted to no more than 10 people of immediate family. In public and private settings, individuals are encouraged to limit their contact as much as possible and adhere to all necessary protocols as well as being mindful of general hygiene procedures. No allowance is given for mass gathering social events of any kind or loud music permits. Religious institutions. All daily or regular church and religious services are permitted in accordance with social distancing protocols. Religious institutions may carry out services according to the square footage of the church. This is guided by each institution's guidelines and protocols approved by the ministries of equity and health. Special religious rites including baptisms, weddings and funerals will be limited to a maximum of 50 individuals inclusive of observers and the service leaders. Funeral and wedding services should be by invitation only. Dates of burial services are not to be formally advertised. Special events. Both excursions for up to 10 persons. This is only permissible for crude yacht charters and family boaters. Excursion plans must be reported to the lighthouse ahead of the journey. Absolutely no day boat party charters will be allowed. Restriction on alcohol sales. The sale of alcohol is permitted at supermarkets, minimats, gas stations, restaurants and bars. Stand-alone bars to operate during the business hours of 11am until 8pm allowing only takeaway services. Licensed restaurants are permitted to serve liquor as part of dine-in services only. Strict measures of protocol enforcement and a no-tolerant policy will be in effect. Licensed restaurants and bars to display all necessary licenses and revised capacity as per COVID-19 protocol for the establishment in a conspicuous place. Restrictions on sporting activity. All competitive and high-contact sporting events including indoor and outdoor trainings, local competitions or social activities are prohibited. Provisions apply for individual or immediate family households to exercise in a safe open-air space. Gyms are permitted for square footage and protocols. Special permission granted for training athletes requiring one-on-one coaching training for non-contact sports, example tennis and swimming. Special permission is also granted for one-on-one personal training. Schools are to follow strict protocols and regulations issued by the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education's continuity plan for schools in St. Usha to operate safely on a specified system. Further information on the commencement of in-class learning and dates will be communicated by the Ministry of Education. For more information on St. Usha's COVID-19 response please visit covid19response.lc The Ministry of Health and Wellness remains very concerned about the number of COVID-19 related deaths recorded in country. The island has recorded a total of 47 COVID-19 related deaths to date and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sharon Belmont George stated that every death is one too many. Individuals who have passed away rage in ages from 21 to 91 years. Of the 47 deaths recorded to date 81% have occurred in the 50-plus age range and males account for the majority of deaths. Dr. Belmont George noted the link between the risk and underlying illnesses in terms of poor outcomes for COVID-19. In terms of the risk analysis and given our mobility profile for diabetes and high blood pressure I thought it necessary to indicate on the cases that we've seen so far the risk analysis by those pre-existing conditions are you note for the diabetes is 36.4 for high blood pressure the risk ratio that is is 33.9 and for that both diabetes and high blood pressure is 32.1 so as much as possible our persons in solution we know we have a problem with diabetes and high blood pressure we need to ensure that your diet the necessary exercise and that you remain compliant because this is one of the ways that we and a very important way that we keep healthy we keep our resistance up as we manage COVID-19. The Chief Medical Officer indicated that there is a wide range of underlying illnesses that puts individuals at a higher risk when they contract COVID-19 therefore a lot of the Ministry of Health and Wellness strategies are focused on protecting high risk groups both in terms of age and pre-existing conditions to ensure their safety we have high blood pressure we have diabetes we have 21% having both high blood pressure and diabetes heart disease chronic obstructive pulmonary disease obesity end-stage renal disease HIV cerebral raxial accident that is persons with strokes Hodgkin's lymphoma and asthmatics as well so for us locally those are the pre-existing conditions that we note with our COVID-related deaths now we use the term COVID-related deaths because we our policy of testing everyone who passes away some of those cases were from testing after passing away some of those persons did have serious other underlying conditions although they may not have developed the COVID-19 related pneumonia but because COVID was positive we report them for transparency the vaccination campaign launched in St. Lucia on the 17th of February 2021 was rolled out in a phased approach phase 1a and 1b comments with the highest risk individuals being vaccinated first including frontline workers and individuals with chronic non-communicable diseases as well as the elderly immunization manager Techlege Baptiste says it is important to protect the most vulnerable in the society and in phase 1b the focus at that time were persons in the elderly population persons living with comorbid conditions and I just want to bring back the point that Dr. Belma made just earlier in her presentation we note the comorbid conditions that most of our deaths you know that would have the comorbid conditions that were present so we had persons living with hybrid pressure, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease and it is very important for us that persons living with comorbid conditions that they are protected because we know that they are at very high risk of developing the very severe form of the disease and of course we know that could lead to death the ministry of health and wellness indicated that the response and turnout has been encouraging with a total of 14,708 individuals getting vaccinated to date the immunization manager explained that the ministry will soon be moving into phase 2 of the campaign and urge everyone to pre-register we are at a point where there is a need for us to reach out to move a little further and to reach out to other persons who are at medium risk and as such we are going to be moving on to phase 2 where we will be reaching out to other persons who on a daily basis by nature of their job have very high interaction and also at risk and I speak of our hotel workers I speak about the commercial sector also persons from working in the hotel industry and we will be reaching out to them so we are encouraging those persons of course to visit the various community wellness community vaccination sites once they announce they can access the vaccine at the sites that are nearest to them that was immunization manager Tekla Shabbatiste St. Lucia received support from a key regional organization to aid in controlling the spread of dengue and other vector-borne diseases more in this report from Funnel Neptune the ministry of health recently received a donation of equipment and supplies from the Pan-American Health Organization PAHO to assist the country given the recent outbreak of dengue fever last year PAHO country program specialist Reynolds Ewett says his organization remains committed to assisting St. Lucia in strengthening its vector control measures these equipment and other access will be used for entomological surveillance and on behalf of the PWR, Dr. Ithides Gebre I hand over these items to the chief environmental health officer and where they use for controlling mosquitoes and help to reduce the indices of these mosquitoes in St. Lucia chief environmental health officer Pakal Ragnan says the donation of equipment and supplies is extremely needed to decrease the population of the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes these items are indeed much needed as our stock have been significantly depleted we've also had dated equipment some that are non-functional at this time and so we want to ensure the Pan-American Health Organization that these items will be put into very good use for the benefit of the country as a whole and so we want to thank you again for them and look forward to continue collaboration with the organization in improving and sustaining the health of all St. Lucia's alike environmental health officer for vector control Shaleta Charles expressed gratitude to PAHO for the donation and says it will be used to fight the dengue battle in St. Lucia it is truly necessary for us to continue our battle against the Aedes aegypti mosquito on the spread of dengue fever across the island so we'd like to say a big thank you and we'd also like to encourage our fellow St. Lucia's to remember that although we haven't been having so many cases of dengue that we should still be aware that dengue is endemic to the island and we may have cases and outbreaks in the future the donation from PAHO included posters, water boots, chemical gloves, air muffs, full face respirators hand-held foggers, vehicle mounted fogger and mosquito repellent to name a few reporting from the communications unit of the Ministry of Health and Wellness I am Fennel Neptune International Charity the Simply Health Foundation has made its annual donation and supplies for the less fortunate in the St. Lucia Society Jesse Leos reports Residents of St. Lucia continue to benefit from the bonds of cooperation between their government and the Embassy of the Republic of Taiwan and the Simply Health Foundation In a recent ceremony, resident ambassador to St. Lucia His Excellency Peter Xia Yan Chen handed over 1,000 boxes of goods donated by the foundation Today, the love from the Taiwanese people and overseas Taiwanese The kindness, compassion, because small acts of generosity is a solid testimony to the fact that Taiwan and St. Lucia are not just partners in prosperity but also partners in adversity Taiwan will continue to work with St. Lucia to come out better from this pandemic Minister of Equity, Social Justice, Empowerment, Youth Development, Sports and Local Government Honorable Leonard Mantute expressed a sincerest gratitude to the foundation for their charitable efforts I want to assure you ambassador that we will spare no effort in ensuring that those who are most in need of what we have here to distribute will receive them It will be done on the basis of merit It will be done on the criteria of need And so on behalf of those people, the many who will benefit from the gifts that will be distributed who may not have the opportunity ambassador to meet you and to personally thank you I take the opportunity on their behalf to express sincere gratitude The Simply Health Foundation, composed of Taiwanese American businessmen and women is a charity that has been donating to those in need annually for seven years For the Government Information Service, I am Jesse Layance reporting This is NTIA Nightly Up next, Primers Hutchingson with the NTIA Nouvela Quaiol 2020 is a year that we do not want to revisit It was tough, frustrating and scary From family to friends to co-workers and clients Someone we know has been affected one way or another from this pandemic Let us take responsibility for ourselves and the lives of those around us On an island of 182,790 people, one life lost rocks the entire nation So let us overcome this together Wear a mask, wash your hands for 20 seconds with soap and water Stay home and social distance Share accurate information Sanitize your hands frequently Get registered for your COVID-19 vaccine today Let us bring our society, economy and health back to normal Together Together Together Together Together Together we can win this war This message is brought to you by the management and staff of Invest St. Lucia Welcome back We join Primers Hutchingson for the NTIA Nouvela Quaiol Mr. Thangenele Mr. Madame, Department of Investability For information on government services, GIS And national television, NTIA NTIA For the NTIA Nouvela Quaiol For the Primers Hutchingson Special support from this financial administration I would like to say thank you to the NIMAC organization We visited several of these protocols To strengthen the protection of COVID-19 To continue to eat here We also have Grek NIMAC Assistant Chief of Police Milton Desi And we also have Solangeman Asoukofiwa To address the Western operations Before going to the market And then go But we also need to go to a restaurant To eat But we also need to go to a restaurant To make a way To observe the COVID-19 The NIMAC officers I agree that Kofiwa Jalongi Was set up to go to the market But she continued to go To the market And she continued to work And to exercise To make a condition That she could contact And then go to the market The school was also open But these protocols were made Even before For the boat to go to the sea Even before the assistant chief Of police Was set up to go to the market To go to the market We also have a new program To learn about the situation To know about the situation To go to the lighthouse To make the way To make the way to the lighthouse To go to the fisheries To make the way Through the radio To reach the radio To make the way For the Social To observe We have Dr. Rigobot Fekoponke-Bagway, a woman who has completed her professional life. It is also true that Westpay is a great place for women to work in the field, in the domestic profession, and especially in domestic violence. If you want to work, that's a good thing. And you can have a good life. You can have a family, a good business, you can have a good life, you can have family, you can have a good life. So I think it's a good job, but one more thing is the development of it. I don't think it's going to affect society. I think it's going to affect the quality of our society. So I think it's going to affect the quality of our society. Also, we have a lot of violence bills that we have to deal with in order to get rid of them. So, we have a lot of violence bills that we have to deal with in order to get rid of them. But if we don't have the money, we can't finish it. So, we hope that we can get rid of the violence that we have to deal with in order to get rid of them. I will start with the Posito and Timorso violence bills. These are decisions that the organization has made to establish a charge to cover the cases in order to protect the cases that are being moved during the corona pandemic. Chief Officer Medical Doctor Sharon Belma George explained that this is a critical situation that we need to set up in order to make sure that the situation is resolved. We need to make sure that the situation is resolved, and that the patients will be able to get rid of them. We have decided that we will be able to declare this as a huge challenge to resolve the situation that we face to make it easy for business payers. In the end, it's possible that the whole country and the whole public will be able to continue for a very long time and serve the mass as a way to sanitize, change their social distance, and also to provide for a very long time. Because the coronavirus has transformed us so quickly. The decision that I made was that Fiu was going to start working at 4 a.m. All the day, but the end of the week, it's the same thing that I started at 7 a.m. to 4 a.m. every morning, every day, because that's what I saw to go to 4 a.m. every morning. All the time, with Plastic Business, we can encourage people to continue to work at Kaipito. I will comment on all the discussions done by Zoom, KSAV Internet, and a lot of services that are necessary to build the manufacturers, etc. that continue. If there is more information about the business, I would like to make sure that we manage it. If there is more information about the business, I would like to make sure that we have a lot of time to work on it. I would also like to thank KSAV for providing us with this new product. Thank you very much. I'll see you in the next week. See you in January. Mess your pill primers. That brings us to the end of NTN Nightly. Join us next time at 7 p.m. with a repeat at 7 a.m. You can also catch up with us anytime on the St. Lucia Government Facebook page or YouTube channel. I am Jeannelle Norville.