Last Updated on August 11, 2020, 12:31 PM AST by Anthony Morris
“We have successfully and consistently kept our number of COVID-19 positive cases below 0.3% in St Kitts and Nevis, which is considered as the result of excellent management of Coronavirus.” Said Prime Minister Dr Timothy Harris during a press briefing on Tuesday.
Prime Minister emphasised on his commitment to safeguarding St Kitts and Nevis from COVID-19 pandemic. “St Kitts and Nevis recorded the least cases of COVID-19 in the region. Our government continues the careful management of reopening of the economy, allowing our people to return amid COVID-19 global pandemic. Our management of the pandemic has resulted in our being considered the lowest COVID-19 destination.”
Calling it the revival of the economy, PM Harris extolled St Kitts and Nevis of being the safest destination for travellers during COVID-19 situation in the world. While counting the telly of the Caribbean region he added:
Haiti reported 7,611 cases and 182 deaths
Suriname reported 2,306 cases and 29 deaths
Jamaica reported 1,003 cases and 14 deaths
Bahamas reported 878 cases and 15 deaths
Guyana reported 554 cases and 22 deaths
Trinidad & Tobago reported 279 cases and 8 deaths
Barbados reported 142 cases and 7 deaths
Antigua & Barbuda reported 92 cases and 3 deaths
Belize reported 153 cases and 3 deaths
St Vincent and Grenadines reported 56 cases
St Lucia reported 25 cases
Grenada reported 24 cases
Dominica reported 18 cases
St Kitts and Nevis reported 17 cases
(St Kitts and Nevis has the least number of Covid-19 cases in the region)
Government Offices, Bars, Restaurants must not allow entry to the person who is not wearing a mask appropriately. “The fine for not wearing a mask in the company of the others can be avoided by simply carrying a mask with you at all times.” Said PM Harris during the press briefing.
According to Prime Minister Dr Timothy Harris, St Kitts and Nevis was the first nation to close its borders and the last one open. “Our strategy is to reopen the borders in a phased manner. First, to reboot the domestic economy, we identified the lowest and critical sectors for opening up. Starting with agriculture and the fisheries sector. Later, the phase will be followed by the construction, manufacturing and churches with the precautions and protocol of COVID-19.”
Schools are getting ready for opening up in September. Except for the hotel business, all the businesses are back in progress.
Apart from this, the Prime Minister pointed out a marginal increase in fisheries during the lockdown period. “Total fish landings for the second quarter of 2020 (April to June) amounted to 144,460 pounds of fish valued at 1.7 million dollars. This is over the comparative period of 2019 when the total fish landing was 144,320 pounds valued at 1.7 million dollars. This attributed the government’s support of Covid-19 relief programme.”
Further, 2.1 million dollars have been spent on the agriculture sector. Particularly for the crops and livestock production. Over 271 farmers have benefited from this.
Over 75% of manufacturing employees are back to work. Retail and wholesale factors have continued to work relatively better.
Hotel Sector Reopening
PM Harris also exalted hoteliers for their commitment to St Kitts and Nevis as most of the hotels are set to reopen in October 2020 and will start providing jobs to thousands of Kittitians and Nevisians. “Based on discussions with stakeholders in the tourism sector, it is expected that things will go as predicted. We shall be ready to open our borders in October 2020.”
A special programme is also being outlined by the Ministry of Tourism, Health and Civil Aviation to train over 5000 persons in the industry at no cost to participants. The Ministry will certify the participants to give a further boost to the tourism sector.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
