NEWS
Hypertension, diabetes most common comorbidities in covid19 deaths
Epidemiologist Dr Avery Hinds said hypertension and diabetes are the most common comorbidities observed in people who have died of covid19. He was speaking at the Ministry of Health press conference on Wednesday. He said other pre-existing conditions found in covid19 deaths included asthma, ischemic heart disease (IHD) and malignancies from different types of cancer. “As we speak about comorbidities, we do want to emphasise sometimes people are not aware of pre-existing conditions because they have not been going to the doctor,” said Hinds. Read more here
RHAs say vaccination rollout ‘back on track’
Gloomy skies and intermittent rainfall yesterday morning was not enough to deter the hundreds of elderly citizens who turned up to get their first dose of the Sinopharm and the second dose of AstraZeneca vaccines at health centres across the country, as the Ministry of Health made attempts to correct problems with vaccine delivery which resulted in chaos last week. However, some people disregarded the ministry’s stipulations and arrived for vaccines although they did not qualify. Others who had appointments dropped off elderly people hours before their appointments, creating a backup. Although the Elderly Express Experience model was criticised on social media after videos and images of the elderly sitting and standing in the rain were posted, North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA) CEO Davlin Thomas said the vaccination system had “been set back on track.” Read more here
POLITICS
Browne: 2.7 million food-insecure people in Caricom
Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Dr Amery Browne said there are approximately 2.7 million food-insecure people in the region. He made this statement during the virtual opening ceremony of the National Food Systems Dialogue on Wednesday. Browne said this data was provided by a Caribbean covid19 food impact security survey done in February by Caricom and the United Nations' Food and Agricultural Organization in February. Read more here
Deyalsingh: Difficult to assess impact on J&J delivery to T&T
There is now concern over the possible effects on the 800,000 Johnson and Johnson vaccine order T&T is earmarked to receive from the African Medical Supplies Platform, after manufacturers Johnson and Johnson (J&J) was recently ordered by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to dispose of 60 million vaccine doses due to possible contamination at a factory. However, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh has said it is difficult to anticipate the possible effects at this time. Deyalsingh indicated the difficulty in Parliament yesterday, while replying to a query from the UNC’s Rodney Charles. The latter asked how the move in the US would impact the 800,000 J&J vaccines T&T is expecting. Read more here
BUSINESS
Who is investing in Tobago?
The Tobago House of Assembly (THA) recently announced its first bond issue, raising over $164 million. But the most important details of the issue remain a mystery. In a release dated May 28, the Division of Finance and the Economy said the Executive Council had granted approval in February 2019 for the issuance of bonds. After approval was received from the Minister of Finance, the release said, the Assembly worked with the Finance Ministry and First Citizens bank as the arranger, to ensure all the legal and regulatory requirements were fulfilled. Read more here
COVID fraud: More than 700 double payments identified
While the focus of the headlines in recent days has been the lack of accountability with regard to funds distributed for COVID-19 relief by the Tobago House of Assembly, the Audit General Report for 2020 has revealed that there have been several instances of this shortcoming across ministries, regional corporations and state agencies. In the report’s conclusion, this was seen as one of the oversights in the rollout of COVID-19 relief. The report stated: “It appears that no proper monitoring and oversight was in place for the Ministries and Departments tasked with the administering of the COVID-19 initiatives. Roles and responsibilities were not clearly defined. Lack of collaboration with other relevant departments and deficiencies in the internal controls led to the funds allocated for COVID-19 initiatives not being used efficiently and effectively.” Read more here
REGIONAL
Saving lives not an overpriced option
THE Ministry of Health has said that saving the lives of Guyanese is not an overpriced option, and at no time did Guyana procure vaccines from an illegal entity and accessed vaccines secretly from anyone, as it rejected statements from Opposition Leader, Joseph Harmon as malicious. According to the ministry, in a statement, it has followed the established procedure and has established legally-binding contracts to ensure the timely delivery of these vaccines, pointing out that Harmon’s statements on these matters are intended to add to the whisper campaign in communities to slow down the COVID-19 vaccination campaign. “His Excellency, President Irfaan Ali, has also announced prices Guyana has paid. It has never been a secret that Guyana paid $US22 per dose of the Sputnik V vaccine and $US17 per dose of Sinopharm. These prices include all associated cost, including ground and air transport. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Biden finally finished a week of summits and diplomatic pageantry, but did any of it matter?
Did any of it matter?
A week of summits, diplomatic pageantry and media blitzes ended when Joe Biden climbed the stairs onto Air Force One at Geneva airport. "I did what I came to do," the US President said, after warning Vladimir Putin to halt cyberattacks on American infrastructure and making clear that he didn't want a new Cold War but would firmly defend US interests and values. His comment sums up the rest of a trip on which he mended relations with US allies traumatized by Donald Trump, launched his global crusade to save democracy and offered belated US leadership on the Covid-19 pandemic. He acknowledged it would take months to learn whether his talks result in US prisoners in Russia being freed, whether a cybersecurity showdown cools and strategic clashes with Moscow in Ukraine and elsewhere ease. Read more here
China space station: Shenzhou-12 delivers first crew to Tianhe module
China has launched three astronauts into orbit to begin occupation of the country's new space station. The three men - Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo - are to spend three months aboard the Tianhe module some 380km (236 miles) above the Earth. It will be China's longest crewed space mission to date and the first in nearly five years. The crew successfully docked with the space station just over seven hours after the launch. The moment of contact was met with applause from mission control in China. Their Shenzhou-12 capsule took off atop its Long March 2F rocket on Thursday. Lift-off from the Jiuquan satellite launch centre in the Gobi desert was at 09:22 Beijing time (01:22 GMT). Read more here
17th June 2021