Sunday, March 1, 2020       –   Erskine Sandiford Centre, Bridgetown Barbados.

Prime Minister of Barbados convenes Health Meeting.

        CARICOM Chair, Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, has promised that regional governments will keep their citizens fully informed about any developments regarding the strategy to combat the COVID-19 virus.  ( Photo by David Crichlow  for CARIBPIX.NET )

   Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, held a special meeting in Barbados today Sunday, March 1, to discuss ways of protecting the region from COVID-19.

          The meeting took place in the Frangipani room at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, beginning at 12 noon.

    It brought together some Heads of Government, Caribbean Ministers of Health and their chief medical officers, representatives from the Pan American Health Organization, the Caribbean Public Health Agency, the Caribbean Community Implementation Agency for Crime and Security and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency.

The decision to hold the special meeting was taken by Ms. Mottley following consultations with outgoing CARICOM Chairman, Prime Minister Allen Chastanet of St. Lucia, after both leaders participated in two emergency meetings on Wednesday, February 26, and Friday, February 28, of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) and Chief Medical Officers on COVID-19, via video conference.

 During the meeting in Barbados, Caribbean leaders considered  a recommendation from the COHSOD Working group on regional coordination for management of the virus and other infectious diseases on passenger ships.

     Chief executive officers of cruise lines and airlines servicing the region was invited to participate in the special session and attended. A press conference followed afterward..

      TO VIEW HEALTH MEETING UNEDITED PHOTOSHOW......CLICK HERE ......

( All photographs by David Crichlow  for CARIBPIX.NET )

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Harrison’s Point earmarked as quarantine facility

The old naval base at Harrison’s Point in St Lucy is to be restored and included as another quarantine and isolation facility in Barbados for the coronavirus.

   CARICOM subcommittee to focus on protecting region from COVID-19

Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados says an expanded bureau of Heads of Government has been established to among other things,marshall resources in an effort to protect the region from COVID-19.

       Chairman of CARICOM, Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, has given the assurance that regional governments will keep their citizens fully informed about any developments regarding the strategy to combat the COVID-19 virus.

She made this clear as she chaired a press conference at the end of the 8th Special Emergency Meeting of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), which was held yesterday at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.

Stressing that the region had faced similar health crises in the past, in the form of SARS and MERS, the Prime Minister warned persons not to ‘push the panic button’ by attacking nationalities or countries, resorting to xenophobia, closing borders, or creating barriers that would lead to job losses, loss of economic activity, greater social implosion, greater opportunities for crime and other things, which were equally public health disorders.

This is not an easy moment for any of us. And because we are living in a world where in the last decade alone air travel has virtually doubled … where communication between people is as easy as picking up this phone and using it, it means that we are fighting new forces in our ability to detect, contain and manage any public health outbreak, not just this one. And to that extent, because of the rise of fake news in the last decade as well, it is absolutely important that people only seek and receive their information from credible sources, credible established sources, either nationally, regionally or internationally,” she stated.

Ms. Mottley said that it was not possible to determine whether a vaccine against COVID-19 would be available in the next 12 to 15 months, but promised that the Government of Barbados would continue to keep persons up-to-date about any developments as far as measures to protect the country were concerned.

VIEW THE COMPLETE PRESS CONFERENCE  BY CLICKING LINK BELOW…….

I have every confidence that we the people of this region, as others before us, have risen to the occasion [and] that we shall rise to it and you shall hear us regularly, not because we want our voices to be heard, but because nature abhors a vacuum and it is important that the people of this region can get about their ordinary lives while allowing us to take the actions to contain the spread and to ensure we manage effectively those who are affected by it and infected by it,” she added.

She explained that clear boundaries and responsibilities would be established, with regional governments increasing the capacity to detect, manage and contain the virus, with the cruise lines also agreeing that, where possible, they would also work to facilitate the taking of samples so as to reduce the time taken for testing to be done.

Ms. Mottley appealed to Caribbean nationals to adhere to the protocols outlined and to work with regional governments, by practising good personal hygiene, inclusive of regular hand washing, not touching one’s face and managing one’s environment correctly.

She said regional governments would continue to enforce enhanced surveillance measures at the ports of entry and this would be extended to cargo vessels and the airlines, with each country doing its own analysis, while the Pan American Health Organization and the Caribbean Public Health Agency would assist governments by conducting a gap analysis.

The Prime Minister commended the frontline medical personnel; immigration, airport and customs officials; port workers, nurses, doctors and ambulance personnel for their dedication and commitment.

cathy.lashley@barbados.gov.bb

Safety Top Priority For Cruise Industry Amid COVID-19 Fears

by Shamkoe Pilé | Mar 2, 2020 | Corona Virus, Top Stories

Chief Executive Officer of Carnival Corporation, Arnold Donald seated extreme right in above photo.

  ( Photo by David Crichlow  for CARIBPIX.NET )

           Chief Executive Officer of Carnival Corporation, Arnold Donald has emphasized that safety is a top priority for the cruise industry, noting special protocols are in place to deal with not only COVID-19 but several diseases around the world.

Mr. Donald made these remarks during a press conference held at the end of the 8th Special Emergency Meeting of CARICOM in Barbados on Sunday.

The meeting was held to establish a regional protocol outlining the minimum standards for dealing with the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.

The cruise official stressed Carnival Cruises and other industry players prioritize safety, whether it was marine safety, health, environmental protection or compliance.

“The industry does have a number of screening procedures and protocols for prevention, surveillance and response that are integral to our industry operations because we have to do this all the time.

“Through the years, there have been a number of diseases, issues and scares around the world, to name a few, Zika, Ebola, MERS, SARS.  We have to deal with isolated things because in our case, we go to over 700 ports a year, and there’s always something going on somewhere. We’ve dealt with issues here in the Caribbean, even. And so these protocols that we have in place tend to serve us well. Of course, we fine-tune them, as we have in this case, for the specific disease or illness or situation that arises and in this case it is COVID-19,” he stated.

Mr. Donald said he felt it was important for Carnival Corporation to participate in the meeting, so that the organization has a common basis for operating and continuing to provide opportunities, while keeping its crew, guests and locals “healthy and safe”.

Chairman of CARICOM, Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, who led the meeting, said she was satisfied with the commitment of the cruise industry to maintaining clear lines of communication.

Ms. Mottley noted that islands have different responsibilities based on whether they were only a cruise destination or a home port.

It was for this reason, she said, that it was important that individual Member States have emergency response mechanisms in place.

“Our ability to scale up surveillance at our ports of entry; identify quarantine and isolation facilities; enhance the training of our frontline staff, and strengthen the laboratory capacity within the country is really at the centre of what we mean when we talk about building capacity.

“Against that background, we will continue to be guided by the scientific and the medical officials in this matter so that we can at all times protect the health of our citizens and all visiting our territories, while at the same time protect the economic stability of our region and our countries, given the fact that panic and fear can have a greater deleterious impact on our countries than the impact of COVID-19 itself,” she stated.

The Prime Minister further stressed that CARICOM was setting out clear boundaries and responsibilities for individual partners, as it seeks to increase capacity to detect, manage, and contain COVID-19 and similar threats.

Noting that there was no rapid test currently in place, she said the cruise lines agreed to taking samples where possible to assist with reducing the wait time of testing.

“I think it is only fair that we place in context to that if Carnival, for example, says that they have about a quarter million people travelling every week, and there has not been a single case within the region on a cruise vessel, we have to be thankful for that. We pray that we can continue to be thankful so we enhance measures on both of our parts in that respect. We have also been doing the same for cargo vessels and airlines and we intend to do so as we go forward,” she reported.

Prime Minister Mottley also stated that a framework was created for an expanded Bureau of Heads of Government to immediately work on marshalling resources and increasing the region’s capacity to contain and manage the disease.

Members of the sub-committee are Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, and Antigua.

They will work in partnership with the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to address the region’s concerns. A gap analysis will also be conducted by CARPHA and PAHO on the capacities of member states.

The CARICOM 8th Special Emergency Meeting was attended by Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of St. Lucia, Allen Chastanet, regional Ministers of Health and senior health officials.

Also present were representatives from the PAHO, CARPHA, Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security and representatives of the leadership of the cruise ship industry and their representative bodies, the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association and the Cruise Lines International Association.

shamkoe.pile@barbados.gov.bb

Old Naval Base Could Be Used For COVID-19

by Cathy Lashley | Mar 2, 2020 | Corona Virus, Top Stories

The Old Naval Base at Harrison’s Point, St. Lucy. (FP)

Government is planning to use the old naval base at Harrison’s Point, St. Lucy, to “better detect, contain and manage” the COVID-19 virus, if necessary.

So says Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, as she spoke to the media following five hours of talks as regional leaders, health officials, representatives of the cruise industry, labour and the private sector met yesterday at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre for the 8th Special Emergency Meeting of CARICOM.

The meeting was called to map out a strategy for dealing with the threat posed by coronavirus.

Ms. Mottley said a team comprising herself, Minister of Health and Wellness, Lt. Colonel Jeffrey Bostic; Attorney General Dale Marshall; Minister in the Ministry of Public Works, Peter Phillips; and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Dr. Jerome Walcott, inspected the site on Saturday.

She said a project manager would be identified, with the quarantine building in St. Lucy being able to house approximately 150 to 160 people, with persons only being transferred to isolation if they tested positive for COVID-19.

She noted that the old naval base was in a “significant amount of disrepair” and surrounded by overgrown bush, but that government would be examining the cost involved “in bringing parts of it back in to functional operation.”

Ms. Mottley explained that the Ministry of Transport, Works and Maintenance had cleared all of the surrounding bush and the building was still in “good shape”, although all of the windows, doors, conduit and wires had been removed, and noted that the facility would be used for both quarantine and isolation.

“Luckily, we have a number of buildings that will allow us to be able to deal with quarantining and previously it was used as the temporary prison. There was also a temporary hospital provided there, so we have a building that we will have to bring back into shape. It’s a couple weeks work to do all of it …but I am now satisfied that each country in the region needs some kind of facility that allows us to be able to retreat in times of emergency…,” she indicated.

The Prime Minister also advised that government would be looking at other facilities such as the old district hospital and Paragon, as well as the Barbados Defence Force’s military hospital, which she said was “second to none” and could accommodate “quite a few people”.

The CARICOM Chairman said that regional governments would be guided by the scientific evidence and medical officials, so as to protect the health of citizens and those persons visiting, while at the same time protecting the economic stability of the region.

At the end of the emergency meeting, regional governments adopted a protocol for dealing with COVID-19, which included establishing a sub-committee of Heads of Government which will continue discussions with the cruise industry, regional financial institutions, international financial institutions and the private sector to look at ways of providing resources for capacity to deal with any possible outbreak.

cathy.lashley@barbados.gov.bb