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(Jamaica Gleaner) Jamaica is to make a decision within the next 72 hours on whether it will introduce travel restrictions on United Kingdom flights coming into the island as an aggressive new COVID-19 strain that is 70 per cent more contagious has emerged, with at least six European countries imposing barriers to entry.
The article Jamaica considers UK travel ban appeared first on Stabroek News.
South Africa is one of the hardest-hit countries in Africa with over 740,000 infections.
The country recorded 60 more virus-related deaths on Wednesday, bringing the death toll to 20,011.
Speaking via a TourismKonnect live chat organised by Uganda Tourism Board titled, \"Tourism in the wake of Covid 19 \", Ms Elcia Grandcourt, the United Nations World Tourism Organisation director regional department for Africa, said domestic tourism is more likely to recover faster that international tourism.
\"There will be need to stimulate domestic tourism by embracing intra travels of tourists at continental and regional levels because this is where the market will be and we do not know when many countries especially overseas will open up again to facilitate international arrivals,\" Ms Elcia says.
To Ms Elcia, continental flights are likely to open faster than international ones because with international tourist arrivals, this will heavily depend on how faster the international countries will open their airports and how the even social distancing rules will be applied.
Impact of Covid on the sector
According to the World Tourism Organisation, globally all regions have suffered a strong decline in the number of tourist arrivals in the first quarter of the financial year.
In Africa, we were on a positive trajectory since last year but now in the first quarter for the period between the month of January and March 2020 a decline of 12 per cent in domestic tourist numbers was recorded and for international tourist arrivals a decline of 44 per cent was registered.
The Chinese have obtained an order from a High Court in Nairobi directing the Kenya government to allow them to leave on June 16, arguing that Kenya's health system does not have the capacity to handle the Covid-19 pandemic.
What started as an epidemic in China has now become a global pandemic infecting more than seven million people and killing at least 406,000 people worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University Covid-19 dashboard, which collates information from national and international health authorities.
By the time he arrived in Nairobi, the controversies surrounding the construction of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), treatment of Kenyan employees by Chinese firms as well as the secrecy surrounding Beijing's loans to Kenya, were among the issues that the ambassador faced.
Any loan agreements between China and Kenya are in line with international practice,\" he told the Nation in an interview last year, six weeks after presenting his credentials.
China denied it all through and its diplomats, including Mr Wu, were vocal in the mainstream and social media, clarifying mistakes in the pandemic control, but also vowing that there would be no relaxation of the strict measures China imposed.
(Jamaica Gleaner) The months following Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek’s announcement that he had pancreatic cancer were tough for Jamaica-born Terry Gayle, who was an audience coordinator for the popular game show, as scores of persons came wanting to offer him help.
The article Alex Trebek took care of us, says Jamaican ‘Jeopardy!’ ex-staffer appeared first on Stabroek News.
The Food and Drug Administration said late Thursday that several batches of the drug metformin tested positive for unsafe levels of N-Nitrosodimethylamine, a possible cancer-causing chemical that can form as a manufacturing byproduct.
People with Type 2 diabetes use metformin alone or with other drugs to help control their blood sugar levels.
Patients should continue taking metformin drugs until their doctor can prescribe a replacement, the FDA said in a statement, noting the risks of discontinuing.
Regulators are still assessing whether the recalls will lead to shortages of metformin, but noted that a number of other companies make generic versions of the drugs that don’t appear to be affected by the issue.
Drugmaker Apotex Corp. recalled its extended-release metformin distributed in the U.S. earlier this week after the FDA found contamination in one lot.
FILE PHOTO | NMG
In terms of new thinking and ideas on how to rescue the private sector from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, I must say that the government has scored very poorly.
When we were coming up with measures to save companies from the impact of the coronavirus, we didn’t think about specific sector interventions.
Had we even as much as debated , injected new and fresh thinking about the impact on some of the most affected sectors such as travel, hotels and tourism, Norfolk wouldn’t have suspended operations.
If you have been following the news from Britain, you must have come across the news that the government there is thinking about establishing a $25 billion taxpayer funded sovereign wealth fund to buy out and inject long-term equity into struggling family-owned companies whose collapse would disproportionately harm the economy.
We need to come up with specific sector interventions where companies in specific sectors are supported by being given long-term capital after being assessed in terms of employment, pre-Covid 19 turnover, and tax compliance.
With a breakaway ruling out commute along their normal Gordon Town road route, Christmas tree farmers have seen their journey from Penlyne Castle to Constant Spring Road in Half-Way Tree more than double this year. As the Christmas shopping season...
The police say they are investigating the circumstances surrounding an incident captured in a video being circulated, showing policemen in confrontation with two members of the public. The video shows a man hurling expletives...
President Cyril Ramaphosa will meet with traditional leaders on Saturday to discuss the national response to the Covid-19 pandemic and matters related to the lockdown.
This will be the second consultative meeting with traditional leaders on the national response to the pandemic, with the first one having been led by Deputy President David Mabuza, Presidency spokesperson Khusela Diko said.
Diko said Ramaphosa had recently held consultative meetings with the National Economic Development and Labour Council, the President's Coordinating Council, leaders of political parties represented in Parliament, leaders of interfaith communities, and the tourism industry.
\"The engagement with traditional leaders is part of a series of consultations the president has held with leaders across various sectors of society since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, to ensure that the national effort to combat the crisis is inclusive and enjoys the support of all stakeholder groups.\"
News24 was reliably told that party leaders in the virtual meeting, which kicked off at 07:00 on Wednesday, were given ample time to share their views on how the country should be navigating the coronavirus pandemic and the related lockdown to curb the spread of infection.
WESTERN BUREAU: Jamaica is to make a decision within the next 72 hours on whether it will introduce travel restrictions on United Kingdom flights coming into the island as an aggressive new COVID-19 strain that is 70 per cent more contagious has...
Nairobi — Starting mid-night, motorists will pay less for super petrol and diesel but more for kerosene after the energy watchdog revised prices of the precious commodities.
The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority decreased the price of super petrol by Sh9.54, allowing it to retail at Sh83.33 per liter for the next one month.
EPRA says the new changes are a consequence of the average landed cost of imported Super Petrol, which decreased by 38.94 percent from US309.03 per cubic meter in March to US188.07 per cubic meter in April.
During the period, the mean monthly US Dollar to Kenya shilling exchange rate depreciated by 2.67 percent from Sh104.05 per US dollar in March 2020 to Sh106.83 perce US dollar in April 2020.
Since the end of March, oil has been hit further by a collapse in demand due to the economic impact of the virus, when sellers had to pay buyers to take oil off their hands.
It took more than four years, but Jamaica has finally signed off on a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the United States (US) that seeks to stamp out corruption at the ports, which has, for decades, facilitated the inflows of guns, drugs and...
MONTEGO BAY, St James – Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett has expressed confidence that adequate systems have been put in place for today's reopening of Jamaica's tourism industry, even while he cautioned against expecting perfection.
The minister and key stakeholders in the tourism industry had a walk-through of Sangster International Airport — through which the passengers will travel — with special emphasis on immigration and customs and the facilities for COVID-19 testing.
He noted that the airport team had introduced numerous changes to facilitate social distancing consistent with stipulated health protocols, such as the rearrangement of furnishings, the introduction of technology to record temperatures, and the installation of sanitisation stations.
Included in the high-level team that toured the facility were permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Dunstan Bryan; chief medical officer, Dr Jacquiline Bisasor-McKenzie; regional technical director, Western Regional Health Authority, Dr Diane Campbell-Stennett; Director of Tourism Donovan White; senior advisor/strategist Delano Seiveright; president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association, Omar Robinson; director of projects, Tourism Product Development Company, Stephen Edwards; member of the Tourism Economic Recovery Task Force, John Byles; and JDF Captain Jevan Brown, who is in charge of logistics.
The airport team was led by Chief Executive Officer Shane Munroe and Chief Operations Officer Peter Hall.
Bus operator 45-year-old Jermain Reid was today fined a total of $37,000 or 51 days in prison in the Manchester Parish Court after pleading guilty to breaches of the Road Traffic Act.\tReid was charged for transporting up to 35 students as opposed...
Masks give women’s group lifeline as tourists dwindle
Tuesday, June 16, 2020 0:01
By LYNET IGADWAH
Members of Chui Mama Women’s Group making masks in Laikipia County.
Now, the 355 women are sewing and selling face masks at Sh50 a piece to the local community dominated by the Samburu and Ndorobo — the sub-groups of the expansive Maa speaking community.
“The women kicked off the face masks project as soon as the government announced that it is mandatory to wear one in public places,” said Dorothy Masinde Mwango, a Board of Trustees member at Chui Mama.
Before Covid-19 reared its ugly head, the women were known for their beadwork which they sold to tourists who visited Laikipia’s top lodges, large ranches owned by white settlers and wildlife conservancies.
The funding will also go towards purchase of fabric for making face masks, liquid soap, paying the women for labour offered and for public address speakers to educate people on Covid-19 and how to protect themselves.
(Jamaica Gleaner) THE MAN said to be responsible for the brutal gun attack that left two policemen dead and two others in critical condition in hospital is now dead.
The incident occurred during a predawn operation on Friday in Horizon Park, Spanish Town, St Catherine.
Thirty-nine-year-old Damion Hamilton was killed by the police in Cooreville Gardens, Kingston, sometime yesterday afternoon.
It is understood that the first incident occurred about 4:30 a.m. on Friday when members of a police party came under gun attack from a premises on Queens Drive in the Horizon Park community.
Hamilton has been living at the house on Queens Drive in Horizon Park for the past three years and was recruited by an individual from the area to help fight a turf war, a source explained.
(Jamaica Gleaner) It’s not often that a mother and her daughter graduate at the same time, from the same university, with the same degree.
The article Jamaican mother-daughter teaching team to graduate the same time with the same degree appeared first on Stabroek News.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Polls closed across the East Coast Tuesday night as President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden concluded an epic campaign marked by rancor and fear that will influence how the nation confronts a surging pandemic and...
MANDEVILLE, Manchester — President of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce Kenisha Dwyer-Powell and her predecessor Garfield Green have added their voices to those urging entrepreneurs to find new ways of operating in order for businesses to survive the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dwyer-Powell told the Jamaica Observer by telephone last Friday that even after the pandemic has come and gone, significant adjustments to doing business will have to be sustained.
Online shopping and Internet banking are the ideal ways to go now, based on what is happening with COVID-19 and the guidelines, but not many persons are receptive to that, so you have to do a market research and SWOT [strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats] analysis just focusing on your clients,” said Dwyer-Powell.
“Business is down, and no one is getting 100 per cent support in any area, so some businesses have locked down because there is just no way for them to operate, so that is what we are facing on one end… hotels such as Golf View that closed down two months now and is using the opportunity to renovate, but not a lot of businesses are able to do that.
“Other businesses would have cut staff, or they are on a week-on, week-off system, so everybody is feeling it… Restaurants, too, even though people are probably buying more food, because if you pass KFC or Burger King [there are long lines], so smaller restaurants would have either laid off [staff] or cut down on their services,” Dwyer-Powell added.
While elsewhere in the continent whole justice systems were being shut down, the decision to keep the country’s wheels of justice turning was lauded
Now well into the third month of implementation of such measures as online trials, open-air court sessions and reduction of bail terms to free up jails, challenges are emerging with the poor being the most affected.
“Children courts have a high number of litigants from far flung areas including slums and rural places who can’t access virtual platforms because now their guardians are thinking more about bread and butter issues, not accessing justice through Zoom,” says Ms Njeri.
Justice Majanja points out that embarking on remote justice, which is now commonly referred to as Zoom trial has its own challenges ranging from inadequate facilities in courts, remand and among lawyers for video conferencing, issues of connectivity in many parts of the country to reistance by lawyers as well as litigants to online proceedings.
When the time comes to deal with the case backlog, Justice Majanja says the online platforms will be among the choices post-Covid-19, noting that most divisions of the High Court, the Employment Labour Relations Court and the Court of Appeal are already adjusting to with the new ways of conducting proceedings online.
But with challenges the Judiciary is facing in this pandemic, Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research Analysis chair Linda Musumba says they present an opportunity to consider informal justice systems which rely on the strength of cultures as an alternative to court room proceedings.
An acknowledgement by Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, on Thursday, makes as clear as crystal the reason behind the Government’s conviction that now is the time to reopen the country’s borders to international travel.
At the same time, COVID-19 is estimated to cost the Government J$38.4 billion between April 2020 and March 2021, and the estimated overall loss to the economy from visitor expenditure from stopover arrivals is J$107.6 billion, according to Ministry of Tourism estimates, he said.
Since Jamaica and other Caribbean countries closed their international borders in mid-March due to the coronavirus outbreak, hotels, shops and restaurants have gone unnervingly quiet, and large swathes of beaches normally occupied by tourists in lounge chairs have become acres of desolation.
However, while most of the Caribbean won’t reopen until next month at the earliest, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda and St Lucia have decided that they could not wait any longer, with Antigua’s information minister, Melford Nicholas, explaining that despite the continued high rate of infections and deaths in the United States, St John’s simply had to take the “calculated risk” for the economy’s sake.
Over 90 per cent of the hotels in the region are still closed, with two-thirds of them expected to reopen partially by the end of July, Frank Comito, the chief executive officer of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association, told The Sunday Gleaner.
Jamaica’s Minister of Environment, Pearnel Charles Jr. says he plans to announce a third phase of the Government’s ban on single-use plastic, which takes effect in January.
The driver of an ill-fated truck, which plunged onto the rocky bed of the Wag River in the community of Devon Pen, St. Mary, died from injuries sustained Friday night.\tHe has been identified as Lancelot Wilson. Thirteen-year-old ...
(Jamaica Gleaner) Fifteen-year-old Saneeka Leechman, a student of The Queen’s School in Kingston, was making plans to surprise her father, 42-year-old Romeo Leechman, on his upcoming birthday, but this will never come to pass as a land slippage caused by heavy rains destroyed their frail house yesterday in Shooters Hill St Andrew, crushing and killing her father.
The article Double tragedy in Jamaica - Father killed, daughter missing after landslide covers house appeared first on Stabroek News.
Fatalities from COVID-19 in Jamaica are climbing closer to 300, following the confirmation of two more deaths from the disease yesterday. \tThe number of deaths from the infectious disease is now 285. \tThe Ministry of Health and...
