Caribzone News Highlights

By Caribzone.com

Regional

The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency – CDEMA - has developed a comprehensive operational readiness program which comprises, among other things, training exercises and scenario planning in preparation for any eventuality.

Acting executive director, Elizabeth Riley, said the agency is focused on ensuring it can navigate a multi-hazard situation in light of the current novel coronavirus pandemic.

She said at the national level participating states have signaled that the COVID-19 outbreak has provided a jump-start of their national preparatory actions for the 2020 hurricane season

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Regional

Jamaica is set to benefit from Canada's donation of US$5.3 million to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) for the response to COVID-19 in 23 countries of the Americas.

The contribution will benefit a total of fifteen Caribbean countries — Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago and eight countries in Central and South America.

According to PAHO the collaboration will primarily support increased access to personal protective equipment (PPE) and other critical supplies. The death toll from the Virus has already topped 70, 000 in Latin America.

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Barbados

Barbados has confirmed that four of the 110 nationals who arrived from the United States last Tuesday, tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19), but the island is much better prepared to deal with the virus, compared to when it first surfaced in the region, in March.

Health and Wellness Minister, Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic told a news conference that the Jet Blue flight had brought home Barbadians who had been stranded in the United States since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared and international flights stopped.

Barbados has so far reported 96 positive cases of the virus since March 16.

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St. Lucia

A request for a “Black Lives Matter” rally in St. Lucia, was turned down by the police last Friday…

St Lucia's Acting Police Commissioner, Milton Desir, in a letter, informed the Goodwill Ambassador, Taj Weekes – who was helping to facilitate the rally – of the decision.

The advocacy group ‘Black Lives Matter, St Lucia’, said the peaceful protest was planned as a show of solidarity with the protest movement against police violence and racial injustice that has been sweeping the United States and the world, since the tragic death of George Floyd on May 25, in Minneapolis, by police officers.

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Guyana

The Opposition PPP/Civic is set to win back the Guyana presidency and 33 seats in Parliament with the incumbent APNU+AFC securing 31 seats with one seat going to the list joining parties of LJP, ANUG, and TNM.

Figures from the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) showed that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic had secured 230,328 valid votes while the APNU+AFC had captured 217,259 votes with a few more boxes still to be tabulated.

In the contentious District Four, Georgetown, and a reported stronghold of the incumbent, they won 116, 280 votes with the Opposition PPP/Civic tallying 77, 912, after a grueling 33-day recount process at the Arthur Chung Convention Center.

Irfan Ali is set to become the new president of Guyana.

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Sports

Major League Soccer (MLS) will return from its novel coronavirus shutdown with a 26-team tournament behind closed doors starting July 8, at Disney World in Florida. Players will be tested on the day before each match.

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There’s hope that the West Indies team can come good in England this summer despite the absence of three players, VeerSammy Permaul, Oshane Bailey, and Nicholas Pooran. Team West Indies has not won a series in England in 32 years.

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Saying it’s more than a vote, athletes from a number of sports, speak out in support of racial equality as the USA mourns the tragic murder of 46 years old George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, by police in Minneapolis, on May 25.

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