Officials uneasy about COVID variants
Dr. Simone Keizer Beache, CMO, confirmed no presence of other variants but did register concern that they could be here.
By: Dayle Da Silva•
Testing is yet to confirm whether any COVID-19 variants presently exist in St Vincent and the Grenadines.
But according to the Chief Medical Officer Dr Simone Keizer-Beache, given the disease patterns that were unfolding, there is concern among health officials that the UK variant could be present here.
This concern comes as the Caribbean Public Health Agency.
(CARPHA) recently confirmed 5 cases of the COVID-19 variant SARS Co-V-2 (the UK variant) in St Lucia, which had become the third country behind Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica to record the variant within their borders.
Another billion-dollar year
By: Dayle Da Silva•
The 2021 Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure which amount to EC$1,212,601,578 and is 2.2 percent higher than the approved figure for 2020, got a safe passage through Parliament on January 27.
The overall projection is for a deficit year of EC$50.7 million.
This anticipated deficit, not new to this country, was this time around attributed to the weak position in which government began 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the expected slowdown in economic activity for the coming year.
Tax sources taking a blow
Including in that projected decrease is a blow of a 5.4 percent to tax sources. It was estimated that tax sources would generate EC$554 million to the Consolidated Fund and non-tax sources EC$93.4 million, a one percent drop.
No community spread
Health Minister St. Clair ‘Jimmy’ Prince was adamant that given the WHO definition, there was no community spread of the coronavirus in SVG.
By: Dayle Da Silva•
Minister of Health St Clair ‘Jimmy’ Prince maintains that the transmission of the COVID-19 virus here in St Vincent and the Grenadines is not to be categorized under community spread.
He made the statement during last Wednesday’s sitting of the House of Assembly in answer to a question posed by Leader of the Opposition Dr. Godwin Friday.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defined community spread as being evidenced by the inability to relate confirmed cases through chains of transmission for a large number of cases, or by increasing positive tests through sentinel samples.
Some facilities off limit
The Argyle Isolation Facility was used for administering patient care but is now a dedicated to isolation purposes only.
By: Dayle Da Silva•
Members of the public have been reminded that visits to the Argyle Isolation Facility (AIF) and the area designated as the COVID Unit in the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH) were strictly prohibited.
Speaking at a virtual press briefing Tuesday 26th January, Grace Walters, Hospital Administrator, reiterated the reminder and said in addition, the decision had been taken to discontinue the 11 O’clock visitation time at the MCMH, and restrict visits to one person per patient.
Public Debt increases
By: Dayle Da Silva•
Finance Minister Camillo Gonsalves, during his presentation of the 2021 Revenue and Expenditure at a sitting of the House of Assembly last Wednesday, January 27, disclosed that the public debt stood at EC$1,871,029,887, as of December 31, 2020.
This figure, the Minister said, represented a 12 percent increase over the figure for 2019.
In detailing the debt, Gonsalves said the domestic debt increased by 17.2 percent and was now put at EC$579.6 million, with external debt registering an increase of 2.9 percent to now stand at EC$1.29 billion.
The increase in the external debt was the product of soft loans from agencies like the World Bank and other development agencies, against which some net payment were made during 2020.