NEWS
TT students help over 4,000 students learn online
Despite school closures around the Caribbean due to the covid19 pandemic, over 3,900 regional students are being given the chance to continue studying from home thanks to free online classes organised by three TT secondary school students. The trio – Alesha Douglas, Chekieva Phillip and Anastasia Sunnelal – started their project, Online Tutor Services TT, in January to be financially independent and to assist students in their studies. But following the PM’s announcement on March 17 that schools would be closed until April 20, and observing similar measures being taken by other regional leaders in a move to reduce the potential community spread of covid19, they decided to offer free classes to ensure the academic continuity of regional students. Read more here
Stricter COVID-19 stay home sanctions from Sunday
From midnight on Sunday (March 29) to April 15, citizens who are classified as “non-essential” will be required to stay at home. Should civilians ignore the warning, they will feel the full brunt of the law, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said during Thursday’s post-Cabinet media briefing at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s, announcing deeper COVID-19 measures. “Come Sunday night, we are increasing our separation. We are asking people to stay at home under the existing legal arrangements. What I have announced is an upgrade of a stay at home,” the PM said. He insisted the move was not a declaration of a state of emergency or lockdown but noted the first stay at home had initially applied to those seeking 14 days self-isolation. “The first order was if your were genuinely S-I-C-K. Now, if you are S-I-Q you stay home now - which means separate, isolate and quarantine. This arrangement that I am announcing goes until April 15.” Read more here
CAL cargo operations to continue despite COVID-19
Notwithstanding the COVID-19 pandemic, Caribbean Airlines Limited (CAL) will continue to operate its cargo freighter flights and ground transport trucking services. This will facilitate the movement of cargo between the United States and the Caribbean. In addition to providing an essential service for businesses to ship pharmaceuticals and restock dwindling supplies locally and regionally, the cargo flights also offer a barrel and e-container special out of New York, Fort Lauderdale and Miami to Kingston, Guyana, Barbados and Trinidad. Read more here
POLITICS
PM: ‘Town crier’ politicking over coronavirus death
The Prime Minister scoffed at a “town crier” whom he accused of politicking over TT’s first death of a covid19 patient on Wednesday among quarantined patients at Couva Hospital. At Thursday’s post-Cabinet briefing at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s, Dr Rowley was thought to be referring to Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar who had announced the death in calling for a two week national lock-down to curb the spread of covid19. Rowley said the death was not officially announced until relatives were notified. “We are just behaving decently so the family could be informed. Is that too much to ask?” He dubbed it a premature announcement which had caused anxiety. Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Roshan Parasram, when asked about a document on social media purportedly giving medical details of the deceased, told reporters they should not be in possession of those details which was a breach of patient confidentiality. He added that he didn’t think someone’s death was a matter of public importance. Read more here
RHAs get extra $157m for fight against virus
Cabinet has agreed to allocate an additional $157 million to four of the country’s five Regional Health Authorities (RHAs) as they ramp up the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA) will get the lion’s share of the extra funding - $129.9 million - in what will be the first injection of funds the RHAs will receive for the drive. The announcement was made by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley during yesterday’s post-Cabinet media briefing at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s. The PM said the money will be distributed to the four RHAs in Trinidad. Giving a breakdown of how the funds will be distributed, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said the $157m will be spent in four areas - consumables, human resources, infrastructure and equipment. He said consumables would entail acquiring gloves, surgical caps and syringes; human resources would require ramping up of house officers, consultants and enrolled nursing assistants; infrastructure would be building isolation rooms and providing quarantine areas for health care workers; while they would need to purchase ventilators, cardiac monitors and vital sign monitors. Read more here
BUSINESS
ANSA Merchant makes record profit but COVID-19 hangs over results
ANSA Merchant Bank and its insurance companies Tatil and Tatil Life generated record revenue and net income last year, chairman A. Norman Sabga has stated. However, unprecedented uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic means that shareholders will not be getting an additional dividend payment at this time. “We increased Profit Before Tax by 37 per cent year on year to $357 million on Total Operating Income of $1.1 billion, reflecting robust underlying performances across all our businesses,” Sabga stated. “Total Equity increased by $169 million or seven per cent year over year to $2.54 billion, while our Total Assets grew by three per cent to surpass $8 billion 2019,” he stated. Read more here
Most chambers support Govt’s partial shutdown
While some private sector bodies are in favour of the Government’s decision to limit non-essential work in T&T for two weeks from midnight on Sunday, the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce is disappointed by this move. Read more here
REGIONAL
‘We’ve won these elections’
Even as the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) awaits legal guidance from the High Court, the A Partnership for National + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) remains confident that it has won the March 2,2020 General and Regional Elections. Though GECOM has been temporarily barred from declaring the official results for the Elections, the total results declared by Returning Officers (ROs) for the 10 Electoral Districts show that the ‘Coalition’ government is in the lead by over 7,000 votes. While the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) won six Regions, and the APNU+AFC, four, the Coalition’s ability to maintain its stronghold in the country’s largest voting block (Region 4) has placed it in the lead, GECOM’s records show. “We believe that we have won these elections,” APNU+AFC Campaign Co-Manager Joseph Harmon told reporters on Thursday while rubbishing claims of electoral fraud.
“As far as I am aware, there is not a finger that has been lifted to say that the APNU+AFC was involved in any fraud,” he told reporters during a press conference at the Coalition’s campaign office in Georgetown. Read more here
Remittance Downturn - Financial Houses Register Slump As Virus Crisis Worsens
Jamaica’s second-highest foreign-exchange earner, remittances, could suffer a massive blow this year owing to the devastating effects of COVID-19 on jurisdictions overseas with large diaspora communities. Signs of a downward trajectory have already emerged, with at least two local remittance companies reporting declines in inflows that have been triggered by lockdowns and job losses in key markets from which remittances flow. Remittances pulled in US$2.4 billion for the calendar year January to December 2019. Yesterday, Bank of Jamaica Governor Richard Byles indicated that the Jamaican economy was expected to suffer a huge hit by COVID-19, contracting by about three per cent for the year. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Doctors say they're like 'soldiers preparing for battle,' as UK braces for worst of the coronavirus surge
British doctor Katie Sanderson hit breaking point over the weekend. As she advised the family of a Covid-19 patient on where their loved one should die, she received an image on her phone of crowds of people sunning themselves in a north London park. "That made me hit a wall," the 32-year-old said, furious that members of the public were not heeding the government's social distancing advice as confirmed cases and deaths from the global Covid-19, or coronavirus, outbreak climbed in the UK. "These people are going to contribute to somebody needlessly dying in two weeks' time." The rapidly rising number of deaths in Italy and Spain have placed Europe at the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis. Both countries now have higher death tolls than China, where the outbreak began, and with more than 7,500 fatalities Italy has the most deaths anywhere in the world. Read more here
Analysis: 'Great interest' in who PM may have been in contact with
Boris Johnson has been in close contact with the government’s chief scientist and all of the people in charge of trying to handle how the government’s various responses are going. The prime minister is well enough to keep working, using technology, so for now he is not stepping back from the job he is doing in terms of running the government's response. There is a standby in Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who would step up if Boris Johnson has to take time off work. For now, Mr Johnson is still in charge. This thing has moved so quickly but it is some time since Nadine Dorries, the health minister, was confirmed to have the disease. At that point it felt like a shock in Westminster. Since then, Westminster - the borough, not just the political village - has been seen to be a hotspot of the disease. Various MPs and officials from Whitehall have been self-isolating. Read more here
27th March 2020