7 News Belize

Time 2020-10-09 19:04:10

Web Name: 7 News Belize

WebSite: http://7newsbelize.com

ID:76235

Keywords:

News,Belize,

Description:

Important Note: This Internet version of 7 News is a verbatumtranscript of our evening television news script. Many interviews on our newscastare conducted in Creole. In the interest of clarity for our foreign readers,we attempt to paraphrase the Creole quotes in English 100 Cops Taken Off Duty By COVID Tonight, COVID is spreading across Belize - and it's spreading security forces thin. Between the BDF and Police, 250 law enforcement personnel are at home - either in self isolation after a positive test, or in quarantine because they were exposed. For the police, 100 cops are at home because of COVID - 60 have tested positive for the virus, while another 40 are in quarantine because of possible exposure. Today, via Zoom video conference, the Commissioner of police told us that he's been forced to re-deploy manpower to keep domestic security at an optimal level - and it's not been easy: Chester Williams - Commissioner of Police "It is really sad for us that we currently have a number of 61 police officers who are infected with the COVID-19 virus. Since the start of COVID-19 we have had 88 infected officers, some of whom have recovered, and we have 61 active cases. Those active cases are currently in isolation and we also have about 40 or so police officers who have are in quarantine, pending results. So the COVID-19 pandemic has truly hit us hard, police officers on a daily basis, we have to interact with people, we conduct house searches, we conduct people searches, we have to arrest people and those are activities that brings us in direct contact with individuals, many of whom we do not know what their status are, so it really and truly puts us at risk and even though yes, we try our utmost best to ensure that officers wear their PPE, at times the PPE does not serve the purpose the way we would expect it to. Just over the past 2 weeks, we had to change our personnel from along the Santa Cruz, San Victor Douglas area, those are involved in the contraband hotspots because many of them were infected with the virus as well." Jules Vasquez "Should rapid testing be made available for frontline workers, especially those who have to be in constant contact with new members of the public on daily basis?" Chester Williams "I did get that suggestion this morning from a good friend who suggested to me that we should being to do our own rapid testing as police and it is something that I'm going to discuss with my minister to see what support we can get for that. I do believe that yes, if we can do that it would help significantly because the truth is, we come into contact with a lot of people and to arrest somebody requires physical contact with that individual." Jules Vasquez "How has the quarantining and the self-isolation and the diagnosis of so many officers, so many dozen of officers affected your ability to deploy and police effectively when your juggling man power from hotspot to the other?" Chester Williams "I think Jules I need to go into the world chess competition, and I might win that competition, it's like juggling and playing chess. It is difficult at times because separate and a part from the fact that we have about 100 or so officers out of commission, we also since the COVID-19 pandemic began, we have also lost at least about another 100 officers due to attrition, either resignation, dismissal, person retiring, going off medically, deaths, etc, so we have also loss over 100 due to attrition since the COVID-19 pandemic. So, you can see where our numbers is depleting but despite that, we continue to remain effective and efficient as we can." Fortunately, No police officers are currently hospitalised for COVID symptoms. And with 100 cops dealing with COVID up close, and thousands more still on duty and very afraid to get infected, how is the police department managing to stay motivated and engaged with a community that is increasingly infected? That's what we asked the Commissioner: Jules Vasquez "This is right now is the hardest time for policing in memory because of the duration, we're going into the 8th month of COVID awareness, my perception is that some of the officers are inevitably losing motivation and this may be for a number of reasons, they are very afraid to get infected and that is a completely rational fear. Two, there is only so much you can do, I saw people campaigning this morning for politics with their mask under their chin. How hard is to keep officers motivated and focus on enforcing really what is a public health issue more than a law and order issue strictly?" Chester Williams - Commissioner of Police "The truth is Mr. Vasquez that indeed many of our officers are affected psychologically because just the thought of some of them getting infected do affects them and sometimes it's not for them per say but the fact that they might be infected and go home to families unknowing to them that they are infected, then they infect their loved ones, that makes it even worse. I am here, I can tell you I don't really want to interact with my mother because I don't know if I'm infected and I don't want to infect her, so I try as best as I can to interact with her, which is extremely hard for both of us. At the end of the day, as I've said before as police officers, we are a special breed of people and the things that we do in difficult circumstances are difficult times are you rightly alluded to are things that some people would never dream to do for not even an hour but despite that, majority of officers are still committed every day to come to work and do what they need to do to ensure the safety of others. The campaign issue, I saw a group yesterday indeed and they were campaigning, they were in very close proximity of one another, they were not wearing their mask properly and I stopped beside them and I said come on, you need to social distance and you need to ensure that you wear your mask and they apologised and they put on their mask and being to walk with spaces in between but I am sure that when they got up the road again, they continue to do what they want, these are the things that people need to understand. The police and the Ministry of Health do not have the power to stop the spread, who have the power, are each of us individually to ensure that we make it our individual interest to do what we need to do to protect ourselves and to protect our loved ones." And, it's not just our police force but also our defence forces that have been thinned out by COVID-19. There are 142 soldiers either in quarantine or in self-isolation; 65 of those are positive cases, while 39 are from the military installation in Orange Walk Via Zoom video conference, we got a zoom update on the situation from Lt. Col Brandon Garcia, who told Cherisse Halsall that COVID-19 will not stop the BDF from manning the north. Lt. Col Brandon Garcia - Chief of Staff of the BDF "When those persons on operation actually were allowed some down time, they went home and one of them in particular came back, because he was with some infected persons in his family." Cherisse Halsall "So, we know that that index case happened about 2 weeks ago, by all measures would you label that soldier a super spreader?" Lt. Col Brandon Garcia "Well, it started yes with him and to this date we have confirmed that within the BDF we have a total of 65 positive cases, 39 with 39 alone being from the military installation in Orange Walk also a total of 142 persons, or 142 soldiers are quarantined or on self-isolation at home." Cherisse Halsall "What can you tell me about contact process that has been going on, how has it identified all those that you know about and how much can you tell us about who else may have been exposed?" Lt. Col Brandon Garcia "The contact tracing is being done with the assistance from the Ministry of Health and our doctors are also involved in this process." Cherisse Halsall "With this large incapacitation of soldiers, what does this mean for the BDF? How are you able to operate with all of these people out of commission?" Lt. Col Brandon Garcia "So, while I cannot speak to the plans we have in place, I will say there are no issues fulfilling our commitment. Basically, we are saying that we as a force for us to minimize the transmission of this virus, it requires employing the necessary precautions, it requires access to rapid testing kits, it requires an understanding of the problem within itself. It requires an implementation of doing things differently and also the most important, it requires continuous leadership. All these requirements work in tandem with knowing one status throughout this pandemic. So that is our approach to all that is happening within the BDF, so that we in return can protect the citizens of this country." A relief is currently being conducted along the border to replace all those soldiers currently out of commission due to COVID. Yesterday on Ask The Experts, Director of Health Services Dr. Marvin Manzanero discussed the outbreak in these frontline security and health personnel. Dr. Marvin Manzanero - Director of Health Services "The issue with the group of BDF soldiers who have been stationed in Orange Walk. Some of the numbers that you saw there, it's at least 27 from that group that was stationed in Orange Walk turned positive, from that BD group, just so that you're aware. The majority of them are being quarantined now - I am told - in Belmopan. But, up to about 60 of those had actually been swabbed, but 27 of them have been confirmed to be positive, and they are being isolated elsewhere. We have also 14 police officers who are currently listed as active cases of sars COVID-2, and I'm not so sure if that entails or include the 3 new officers from a specific group in the Cayo District that turned out positive this morning. That's exposure [of] frontline workers, and we also have 4 healthcare workers that are currently having an active case of Sars COVID-2." And, it's not only police and health workers - but - as we told you last week - prison guards have also been infected. For months now there have been rumblings of a COVID outbreak at the Belize Central Prison. And, it seemed an inevitability - with a large number of men and women confined to cramped spaces. Still, the prison had been doing a remarkable job of keeping the virus at bay. However. with the increasingly wide footprint of COVID-19, there was only so long they could remain an island isolated against infection. This morning Cherisse Halsall headed to Hattieville to find out about the outbreak at the Belize Central Prison. The Belize Central Prison, it's a fortress, a place from which thoughts of escape are mostly futile. But while Prisoners don't seem to get out, Covid-19 has managed to get in. This morning we went behind prison walls to ask the Kolbe Foundation's C.E.O. about the prison's first brush with COVID 19, a small outbreak that's left 6 prison guards and 8 inmates infected with the virus. Virgilio Murillo - C.E.O, Kolbe Foundation "We did a hundred and 52 rapid tests, that was done amongst guards and inmates, and of that 152 rapid tests, 8 inmates only turned out as positive for COVID 19. That included one female inmate and 7 male inmates. We also did some PCR tests aside from the 30 that we had done initially. That 30 like I said yielded 4 and then we did 21 on Tuesday or Monday that is and that resulted in two more guards testing positive for COVID-19. We have done some more PCR tests a total of 54 which we have not received any results yet for, so we are still waiting for the results for those. But out of that 54, 45 was done on inmates and the remaining was done on guards." The question now is, how much contact did those positive cases have with the rest of the prison population? Virgilio Murillo "We've quarantined everybody who needs to be quarantined and we're hoping that that is how it stays now the quarantining should take care of them and 14 days later they will go back and do a subsequent list that should clear them up. Whoever isn't cleared up by then. I imagine you'd have to push on with another 14 days quarantine. What we have done right now to those ones that are under quarantine they are being attended to by guards and obviously the guards are properly dressed in their PPE including a face shield and the Hazmat suit and what have you, gloves and everything are properly sanitized and sterilized on a regular basis." Cherisse Halsall "With the knowledge that there is, as I said, a small outbreak in the prison, what's the mood like here among inmates that may not yet be affected, infected. How are they feeling about the fact that the virus is nowhere among your population?" Virgilio Murillo "Well, like I've always maintained as long as you educate the prison population and the staff and you don't hide any information from them, your open with the information, you shouldn't be getting any resistance or rebellion if you want to call it that and that is what we have done all along we have been keeping them in the loop. What I want to mention here is that with the widespread of COVID-19 in the community it would be wishful thinking for anybody to think that it would not eventually reach the prison. In my mind it has always been just a matter of when. Right now the prisoners are still entitled to maintain telephone contact with their families, visits are still suspended and they will remain so, suspended until we start to see some kind of improvement in the broader community. It would be very risky to open up for visits, especially bearing in mind what is happening on the outside." And while every precaution is being taken to mitigate the spread, personnel at the prison are almost operating blindly. Murillo says he is waiting patiently for the results of additional testing that will give a better idea of how many people might have contracted the highly contagious disease. Virgilio Murillo "I know that they are very overwhelmed with the amounts of testing that they're doing in the broader community, these tests like I said were done like two days ago and I was hoping that we would have gotten the last set yesterday and then probably the set they did yesterday, maybe tomorrow but it doesn't happen that way obviously. So we're just waiting and we'll see what happens with that, I am hopeful that maybe by the end of today we should get the results for those though and then I would be in a better position to say what are the results of those." And with its first Covid-19 outbreak appearing, the prison is also facing questions about the sudden death of one of its guards. He is Shawn Bainton, a guard who in the last few days was said to have been involved in testing and contact tracing. Suspicions have arisen that Bainton who died of either a stroke or a heart attack, but that he could have faced those complications after contracting COVID-19. We put the question to C.E.O. Murillo this morning but he believes that to be highly unlikely given that in the last week of his life, Bainton had received two negative COVID tests. Cherisse Halsall "Mr. Bainton, there are a lot of rumours right now, there's a rumour that he may have died of COVID, there's another rumour that he may have been poisoned, what's your perspective on this sudden death and how it came about?" Virgilio Murillo - C.E.O, Kolbe Foundation "Well, I certainly cannot comment to the poisoning, I haven't heard it and I wouldn't cast any aspersions myself, however, I feel very confident that it would not be COVID, coincidentally Mr. Bainton was one of those persons who was assisting with getting the inmates and the other prison officers screened for the COVID that the Ministry of Health is carrying out currently in the prison. He certainly had pre-existing conditions and I would want to leave it at that let the Ministry of health do their thing, but what I will tell you in no uncertain terms is that he was tested twice, he did a PCR test but I think his PCR test if I'm not mistaken was done on Monday and the results came back Tuesday and he was negative and he was also tested again I think yesterday because he was mingling with some of the very same prisoners and prison officers the other two prison officers that came back positive so just as a precaution we wanted to double-check him so a rapid test was done on him and that came out negative. So, I feel confident about the COVID it's just typical of Belizeans to spread rumours." A postmortem is still pending. On Monday we told you about the complaint of domestic abuse made by Shyne Barrow's wife, Catherine. She claimed that on Saturday morning, he kicked her in the back, as she was attempting to go to her mother's house with their child. A doctor certified an injury to her toe as harm, and while she did not request court action, she did say that she would be seeking a protection order. But, Mrs Barrow later withdrew her statement - and in his own statement, Shyne said that they'd only had a verbal dispute. But, where were the police? Last year, commissioner Chester Williams said that - because domestic violence was leading to much more serious and deadly crimes - police would proceed with charges even when the complaint was rescinded - and let the courts decide. Today, he said that protocol had to be downgraded: Jules Vasquez "Should not the police have proceeded with charges as you said would be the protocol when such cases arise even if the complainant is reluctant to bring such charges for whatever reason?" Chester Williams - Commissioner of Police "Jules there are many protocols that we have but at the end of the day, you can't really follow them to the letter. The young lady did reach the police station and she made it clear from the onset that she only wanted to make the report for future reference and to be able to assist her to go to family court to seek a protection order. We had said that we were going to charge him with every case of domestic violence and it did not sit well with some agencies who have said that the hard and fast policy was depriving many women who are victims of domestic violence from coming forward because they were afraid that if they go to the police even to make a future reference report, that their spouse would be arrested. So because of that, many of them were not coming, so we have since in circumstances where if the person makes it emphatically clear like in the case of Ms. Barrow, that they want nothing, they only want to go to the family court to seek whatever remedy they court can give them, then we go with that. At the end of the day Jules there are many persons out there who want to condemn me as the commissioner for not forcing the police to charge and the young lady came back and withdrew her complaint and made it clear from the onset, that she does not want nothing but some of the same people want to condemn me, they are out there doing worse than Shyne Barrow, just that their woman or their wives are afraid to come forward and make a complaint but at the end of the day we have to be real, if you want to take the specs out of somebody else's eye, take one out of yours first, so that you can see what is in their eye and that is what they need to understand right. We are in silly season, everything now is about politics right but as a police department and so long as I am the commissioner, I'm not going to allow the police department to be used to foster no political agenda for either side." Flowers. Today he said he wishes the gang figure would, quote, "remain in prison forever" for his involvement with a lurid sex video where he is allegedly seen forcing a woman and a male to engage in a sex act. When Flowers appeared in court yesterday he said police were violating his constitutional rights by first detaining him under the southside SOE, and then, after a month of that, taking him back to court and charging him for "procuring defilement of a person by threat" - for which he has been remanded. Today, the Commissioner had no apologies to make: Chester Williams - Commissioner of Police "I guess the world saw the activity that Big Tom was involved in and I don't think that anyone in their right mind is going to sympathize with him at this time. He know exactly what he got into when he forced by way of threat two individual to perform some sexual act, that is no small crime that he had committed and so what we did under the SOE was send him to prison while the investigators continue to investigate to gather evidence on him that we can charge and so that the time that he was in prison, we were able to do some work, gather the relevant evidence against him and so they charges were laid against him and he appeared before the court on Tuesday or Wednesday. He has since pleaded not guilty and he court remanded him rightfully into custody. He should remain in prison forever as far as I'm concerned." Jules Vasquez"Sir but he's claiming an abuse of process, he's a citizen...." Chester Williams "The person he forced into sexual act can make credence too, many claims." Jules Vasquez"But the fact is sir that they aren't making claim..." Chester Williams"Mr. Vasquez are you sympathizing with him?" Jules Vasquez"I am not sir, but citizens have right." Chester Williams "So, don't you think the young lady and young man have right too? To engage in sexual activity with persons of their choice and not to be cohered of threatened to engage in sexual activity with somebody against their will. They have rights too." And, the Commissioner also had no apologies and some rather harsh words for the villagers of San Victor in the Corozal District. As we told you, on Friday night, a group of what looked like drunken villagers surrounded a police patrol and threatened the police. The cops held their ground and called for backup. In the end 9 persons - mostly family members - were detained on Saturday were charged for over 40 offences. When they got to court they complained that police had shot them with non-lethal ammunition and didn't take them to a doctor. Today, the Commissioner said - basically - that they are lucky to be alive: We also asked the Compol about the motorcade and funeral of Belizean artist Mr. Program. You couldn't miss it as it passed through the city today, a lively celebration of the artist's spirit and life, with friends and fans bunched into pickup trucks, honking their horns, and jamming to the singer's anthem, "See I rise". And, in their grief, perhaps overtaken by the celebration of Mr. Program's life, his mourners seemed to have completely disregarded social distancing protocols. Here's what the Commissioner had to say about that. Over the last few punishing months of the coronavirus pandemic, we've been telling you about how the global spread of this virus has had devastating and disruptive socio-economic impacts on Belize. In fact, it's even disrupted the postal service! About 3 weeks ago, on September 15th, the Post Office announced that COVID-19 has caused disruptions to the global postal supply chain. Because of this, outgoing and incoming foreign mail are limited to the United States and he UK only. This evening, the Post-master General, James Gabourel, told us via telephone that the disruption to their service is mainly in the transportation of mail. Gabourel explained that the airline companies are the main carriers of mail around the globe, and so when they started to reduce their flights to Belize, the Postal Service was immediately impacted. To date, that impact remains as severe as when the airport was closed. At this time, the Belize Postal Service is receiving mail from only two countries: the United States Postal Service, and the British Postal Service, Royal Mail. The mail coming from the UK has had to be shipped to Belize via sea transportation. The postmaster general explained that before COVID, they would receive mail daily from all over the world, and now that they are only receiving from these two countries, their revenues have been severely impacted as well. The Belize Postal Services says that it will inform the general public as soon as foreign mail transportation is fully restored. Earlier in the news, we shared the latest update from the Ministry of Health about the 67 new COVID positive patients that the ministry's countrywide surveillance of the pandemic detected yesterday. At news time tonight, Belize's total number of confirmed cases is at 2,310. Just over 14 hundred of those patients have recovered, but there are still 849 active cases that Ministry is monitoring. And, if any of those 849 patients should fall into medical distress, they will be unable to seek healthcare at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. That's because the national referral hospital's isolation unit is currently at max capacity. Yesterday, the Director of Health Services was asked about it by a viewer of the Ask the Experts Webcast, and here's how he responded to that inquiry: Dr. Marvin Manzanero - Director of Health Services "Current situation at Karl Heusner with hospitalized COVID-19 cases and suspect cases. [There are] 8 confirmed cases at Karl Heusner, so their unit is now full. 2 of those patients are intubated. The other 6 is are either on a high flow of oxygen and not requiring ventilation for now. That's what we have at Karl Heusner. One of those 2 patients ventilated earlier, we were told, is very unstable. So, he's not looking good. To us, it's not looking that good." Dr. Manzanero was also asked about the number of COVID positive patients whose health deteriorated so severely, that they were placed on ventilators. Best reports are that 16 COVID-positive Belizeans who had to be ventilated, all of them, except one, passed away. The only survivor, as far as we are aware, is the 42-year-old doctor from the Western Region. Here's what the Director of Health Services had to say about him and the other patient who was recently taken off the ventilator: Dr. Marvin Manzanero - Director of Health Services "Has any intubated patient been successfully extubated? We had 2 persons who were extubated. One person died 48 hours after being extubated of a cardiac condition that happened. And the other person is recovering slowly at home because, as has been described in the literature else, people who recover from COVID-19 have a long recovery process because of disrupted pulmonary function, disrupted cardiac function, and mental situations that patients go through after they have been in an ICU and ventilated." Later on in the news, we'll share more of the Director's comments from yesterday about how Belizeans living on the Placencia Peninsula been ignoring the 10-day isolation law after being allowed to fly home from abroad. Yesterday, we told you about a large stash of heroin that the cops intercepted at a gas station in Belmopan. It weighed in at almost 8 pounds found inside the pan of a Ford Ranger with Stann Creek plates. The vehicle was occupied by four men-three of them from Valley Community in Stann Creek and one from Maskall Village, Belize District. It's an important and rare bust - heroin is almost unheard of in Belize. We asked the COMPOL about it today, and he told us that he was happy that officers were able to make the interception. Jules Vasquez "Can you speak about the heroin, the almost 8 pounds of heroin that was intercepted on Tuesday, a very unusual drug. Where did it come from? Where was it heading? Do you know who it was for? And who was making money off it?" Chester Williams - Commissioner of Police "I'm not going to speak much of that because it is still a part of a bigger investigation that we are doing, so I'm not going to say much about it other than to confirm that yes the police did make that bust and a few persons were arrested and charged. We have other things we are following on, so I'm not going to say much where that is concerned." Jules Vasquez "Are you concerned that Belize, which has been relatively free from heroin use or heroin smuggling might now some drug traffickers may be looking at channels or gateway through Belize for this very dangerous drug?" Chester Williams "Of course, we have to always keep an open mind in terms of the creativity of these drug pushers. Heroin carry a more attractive price tag than cocaine and so once they would have the opportunity to smuggle it, they are going to try and so I am very happy that we were able to make that interception and those persons involved were detained and charged and we're going to keep our eyes and ears open because we believe there is more that they might try to smuggle through the country." As you heard the investigation is ongoing, however, several have been arrested and charges for drug trafficking. On Tuesday we asked the opposition leader John Briceno what he would do with government's bloated wage bill if his party were elected. It's unsustainable, and, this year, with the COVID cash crunch, government has been borrowing to sustain it. Briceno suggested layoffs of what he called UDP hangers-on. Yesterday we asked his opponent Patrick Faber the same thing. He said; indeed, it is unsustainable and some public officers will have to find work in the private sector: Jules Vasquez"What would be the way forward as regards specifically the wage bill?" Hon. Patrick Faber - UPD Leader-Elect "It's going to be very difficult waters ahead and the current path won't be sustainable and great change needs to happen but that change in my view can be managed. If it is we feel as is evidently the case with so many who have assessed the situation that we have too many government workers. Well the way to do that is to try shift some from the public sector to the private sector but that has to be planned and so our efforts to recover after COVID but even now that COVID doesn't seem to be subsiding, there has to be a recovery plan simultaneously that will see job creation and hopefully we'll see some of that transitioning from the public to the private sector if that is determined to be the need when we assess the situation. But you are right, it is a situation who all look at it says, this is not something that we can sustain and I would be disingenuous to you if I say anything like that we can continue to go down this path irresponsibly." Jules Vasquez"Should public officers expect their annual increment next year?" Hon. Patrick Faber "Well that to me is something to be determined, it all depends. What is guaranteed now, which is the full salary can be maintained at least for the short term until we can get to an understanding, then I don't see why some further acceptance on the part of public servants and teachers to continue to make the sacrifice for the sake of the nation that would be so difficult." Faber did that interview yesterday, and tonight he is preparing to take the leadership of his party at a major event, the UDP virtual campaign launch which starts in about half an hour on this station. The virtual rally will see a mostly symbolic passing of the leadership of the party from its leader of the past 20 years, Dean Barrow, to Faber, who was selected at a convention July. And while Barrow has had the longest, most defining tenure of leadership in the UDP, Faber has to now step out of his shadow and forge ahead to make his own mark. We asked him about that yesterday: Jules Vasquez "People want to vote for change but it's just the natural instinct of the vote that they want change or improvement substantially. You represent the status quo, you are the successor to the most successful post-independence prime minister in Belize's history and while it is to some extent incumbent on you to carry his legacy along, also people want to hear that there will be reform. Are you prepared to step away from the legacy of your current party leader and say that no, we will do things, if I am to lead, we will do things in a different way?" Hon. Patrick Faber - UPD Leader-Elect "You know, there is maximum respect to be paid, homage to be paid to the prime minister for all that he has achieved and the steady hand by which he has guided this nation and guided our party and he has been a giant in terms of getting us to this point and I do intend to stand on those very broad shoulders that the prime minister has flexed out, ready for this party's continuance but it does not mean that I cannot be original and that I won't be original in pushing things forward. I have a legacy for my own self to create." The virtual event starts at 7:30 tonight. Turning now to the other mass party leader, John Briceno - we've already asked him about how he would manage some of the government's financial problems any this difficult time. But what about Belize's ever-increasing debt? It's been going up steadily since the COVID 19 crisis - and right now is believed to be about 130% of GDP, which is perilously high. Briceno says that for starters - he would seek a sharp haircut on the Superbond: Hon. John Briceno - PUP Leader "We are going to renegotiate the Superbond and we are going to insist that there must be, ahm, a haircut and we are going to aim for as much as we can, probably as much as 40 or 50%, if it possibly can when it comes to the Superbond." If his party were elected and he became Prime Minister, Briceno would be the first politician from outside of Belize City to hold that post. It's not an inconsequential difference: Belize's first four Prime Ministers all came from Belize City political strongholds. And, as the constituencies are presently set up, Belize City and its 10 constituencies is the cornerstone of the political matrix. Briceno is from Orange Walk Central, far from that locus of power - but he says he sees it as an advantage: Jules Vasquez "If you are to be elected, you will be the first non-Belize City based Prime Minister in the history of our country. How would that change, manifest itself if at all the governance of the country?" Hon. John Briceno - PUP Leader "I don't think it's a matter of Belize City against the rural areas, I don't think it has anything to do with that but our perspective will be different because I think we have a more global view than the people in the city. I live in Orange Walk Town, I'm a cane farmer, I'm a cabin rancher, I under working soil, I understand what it is to be out in the bush and working with a machete. So, it gives me a different dimension to the problems of Belize, it gives me a different perspective as to how we can address the problems that we're facing. So I think I bring more depth than if I was living in Belize City, that I can truly appreciate the challenges that we have as a country, not taking anything away from our leaders in Belize City but I believe it does give me a different perspective." As we told you earlier this week, 776 passengers arrived at the PGIA in the first four days of the airport re-opening. According to Manzanero, in the first 5 days of the airport's reopening, 776 passengers have already flown into Belize. The director was expecting a few logistical problems, but yesterday, he told viewers of the webcast that it has been going more smoothly than he anticipated. Here are those comments: Reporter"Persons arriving in the first 5 days. Majority are Belizeans." Dr. Marvin Manzanero - Director of Health Services "Routinely now, we have flights from Thursdays to Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays there is no flight coming in from the US. Private flights may still be coming in, but those are perhaps easier to handle, in terms of numbers. So, the first day that the airport was opened, which was last week Thursday, October 1st, there was one flight that came in. Friday to Sunday, there were 2 flights, 1 from Houston, and 1 from Miami. And on Monday, there was one flight. We understand that the flights from Miami will be coming - at least for the month of October - from Thursday to Monday, and from Houston, from Friday to Sunday. So, the total amount of passengers that came on the flights from Thursday to Monday were - on Thursday, there were 73 passengers, Friday 220, Saturday, 218, Sunday 192, and Monday 73 passengers. That's a total of 776 persons arriving in the first 5 days. The majority of these persons returning are actually Belizeans coming back home. And I think we need to stress that, because you know, there was the balance and situation of what was going to happen if tourists are there arriving. Out of the 776 persons, 372 were screened at the airport with the SD biosensor test, and some of those persons were also randomly tested via a PCR platform. The rest of the persons who were not swabbed - and that was determined also by the quarantine officer at the airport - is because they brought in a PCR test result that could have been validated. And that's why for some persons, it's an easier process to go through that airport situation. I can tell you that the flow process, I can personally think that it was going to be a much more delayed process than it was. It went much smoother than we anticipated, at least from my vantage point, that it was going to be. Out of all those persons tested, we did have one person who turned out positive. That person was picked up on Sunday, via the rapid test, that has been confirmed by the PCR platform. So, that person remains under quarantine at a hotel in Belize City." But the one concern that the Director and his team from the Ministry of Health has is that Belizeans returning on these flights have been completely ignoring the COVID-19 protocol, where they must isolate themselves for 10 days after flying into Belize. It's a safety measure implemented to protect the population from the spread of the virus by persons who travelled abroad. But, according to the Director, the Belizeans from the Placencia peninsula who arrived home this weekend skipped the 10-day isolation and went straight into socializing with their friends and family whom they had not seen for months. Here's what he had to say about how the Ministry will seek to enforce the isolation law against returning Belizeans who disobey it: Dr. Marvin Manzanero - Director of Health Services "I'm reading verbatim what it says. For the purposes of preventing controlling, containing, and suppressing the spread of the infectious disease, COVID-19, every Belizean, permanent resident, holder of a valid work permit, qualified retired person, foreign homeowner, or long-staying non-national, who enters Belize through the airport, shall be subjected to self-quarantine by remaining in his place of abode or other places, and physically isolating himself from all other persons for a period of 10 days from the day after his arrival at the airport. And I'm stressing this because it is clearly enforceable at all times. Complaints have been coming particularly from the Placencia that people had not been adhering to this. And so, as we move along, we intend to take all the avenues that are necessary to make sure that this is adhered to at all times. And we are working closely with the police and other relevant entities to make sure that this becomes enforceable. And in that SI, it clearly states what happens once you break the quarantine orders. So, I think it needs to be clear, that everybody who has been cleared from the airport needs to be physically isolating themselves for at least 10 days after you have left that airport. So, it's not only for the ones who are positive. We're also saying this because we have notes of people who arrived and went to wakes, went to home parties, went to greet family members. So, they are not seen in months, and that is not anticipated to continue to happen."For Whom The Flu Vaccine The Ministry of Health is also encouraging Belizeans to get a seasonal vaccine shot for the flu virus. As we've been reporting, 2 days ago, government has purchased 40 thousand flu vaccines at a cost of just over 170 thousand Belize dollars. They are offering to the public free of charge, but priority will be given to specific at-risk groups which include children from ages 6 to 23 months, front-line workers, and adults who are 65 years and older. Here's how it will work: Dr. Marvin Manzanero - Director of Health Services "The flu vaccine, we put out a press release earlier in the week. I believe it was yesterday. 40,000 doses were procured by the government as part of the government funds. The total investment is around $170,000 Belize dollars for those 40,000 doses. Mind you, these only entail the actual vaccine. The cost is higher than that because once you factor in the other materials, needles, cotton, human resources, then, you have to factor what the cost is of getting a flu vaccine. Those are available free of cost at the public health facilities. Again, initially, we are targeting the same high-risk groups that we have traditionally had, all obviously in the context of sars COVID-2, this could become relevance. To stress that this flu vaccine will not protect you against sars COVID-2. It protects you against the more common flu viruses that you have. But, if you have the flu and sars COVID-2, you have double viral infections. You can understand what higher risk you have of being hospitalized and getting complicated. So, at least this is going to cover the majority of the other flu viruses. So, the invitation is for people who are particularly at high risk, people who are older than 60, diabetics, people who have high blood pressure, cancer patients, HIV patients, people who are taking chronic medications you know rheumatoid arthritis, all those other chronic conditions. Those are the first people we want to reach and children under 23 months of age."When COVID Vaccine Coming? But the vaccine most want to know about is the one for coronavirus. Well, Government has taken steps to acquire that vaccine when it become available late next year. According to the World Health Organization, 172 countries are now engaged in discussions to potentially participate in COVAX. That's a global initiative aimed at working with vaccine manufacturers to provide countries worldwide with equitable access to safe and effective vaccines, whenever they become licensed and approved by the international oversight organizations. COVAX currently has 9 candidate vaccines for the coronavirus, and they have 9 more which are currently under evaluation. And, according to the Director of Health Services, Belize will be participating in the initiative: Dr. Marvin Manzanero - Director of Health Services "In terms of the COVAX facility, and access to the specific Sars COVID-2 vaccine, the estimated cost of that is around 5 million Belize dollars. That's the commitment that we are asked to hand in. That has been completed. The deadline is actually on the 9th, which is on Friday, but that has been completed from our end in Belize. Understand that it will be perhaps the third trimester of 2021 when that will be available. And in the first instance, it will be available for 20-30% of a country's population. So, we are anticipating that the same mechanism that we have for those who are more vulnerable, like what we use for the flu vaccine, will be the ones who we will be routinely - or those will be the initial targets then, the frontline workers and the populations that I listed that we currently use for the flu vaccine. Now, even if we get for 20% of the population, maybe if you want to do an inference here, 40,000 vaccines is really 10% coverage of your population. So, if you get 20% coverage - and we'll have to see what the uptake is because we have already been told by certain sectors that they are not necessarily going to be interested in promoting the use of the Sars COVID-2 vaccine."Virtual Fam Trip For Canadian Press And, as we've been reporting, on October 1st the opening of the P.G.I.A Belize welcomed back international travellers to once again enjoy and experience everything that the country as a destination has to offer. But ahead of that date, the BTB engaged in some improvisation by hosting a first of its kind Virtual Press Trip for members of the Canadian Press. The trip held on September 22, 24, 29, and October 1, 2020, provided a virtual experience for journalists to learn about Belize's recovery plan, meet with key industry partners and embrace Belize's great outdoors while at home. It aimed to encourage storytellers from eighteen Canadian media outlets to become educated about Belize and share this knowledge with their audiences. During the Virtual trip, local resorts such as the Lodge at Chaa Creek, The Belize Zoo, The Belize Audubon Society, Ramon's Village Resort, Tropic Air, Splash Dive, and Laru Beya had the opportunity to share videos on their property/operation and tours and share their own perspectives on what makes them so special. It's hoped that all that virtual interest can translate into actual visitors, now welcomed to come in via the P.G.I.A.

TAGS:News Belize 

<<< Thank you for your visit >>>

Hot Websites