 On a global level, the new cases of COVID-19 have increased for the eighth consecutive week, with more than 5.2 million new cases reported in the last week, and 8% increase in deaths was also noted last week. The countries reporting the highest numbers of new cases include India, the United States of America, Brazil, Turkey and France. On a regional level, we note many islands are managing new waves. Of particular concern is our neighbouring island of Martinique, which registered 871 documented new cases in the last week, with three different variants of concern circulating. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, the global public health risk remains very high. This resurgence in the last four months is driven by the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and the inconsistent use of public health and social measures. In St. Lucia, we've noted a total of 4,502 confirmed cases of COVID-19, of which 4,327 of these cases have fully recovered. We have one critical patient in care and 97 active cases. We've recorded a total of 73 COVID-19 related deaths. Also, the Ministry of Health continues the COVID-19 vaccination process on a daily basis across the island. At this point, we noted a decrease in new cases diagnosed, reduced number of persons with respiratory illness, reduced admissions at the respiratory hospital and reduced numbers accessing care at the clinics. The Ministry of Health, we thank the public for their cooperation in adhering to the measures to reduce COVID-19 transmission as we manage our third wave. The Ministry of Health, we continue to monitor the global and regional situation and to strengthen protocols to ensure evidence-based measures are used to guide the recommendations and the protocols as we continue to live safely in a COVID-19 environment. The Ministry of Health, we alert the public that we are still at high risk to community outbreak due to the following. The high risk of international tourism markets, the illegal entry of persons from countries of high risk who are roaming in communities, the non-adherence of citizens to home quarantine, the non-adherence of visitors to hotel protocols, the reduced use and poor use of the face masks in public places, the increased mass crowd events noted across the island, the non-adherence to establish protocols at business places, the crowding of public buses without mask use. At this stage in the epidemic, to maintain the gains thus far and to continue facilitating the safe reopening of the country, it is imperative that we take the necessary urgent infection prevention and control measures to reduce transmission to our families and ourselves at this time.