Update on Cabinet Meeting

In Cabinet today, the Prime Minister and his ministers reviewed a number of items including a report from the Minister of Education, Culture, Science and Technology, Francis Fonseca, on the consultations held with the unions from February tenth to the twelfth, 2021. Urgent response and follow-up was recommended.  Cabinet also received an update on the COVID-19 pandemic and the plan from the Ministry of Health and Wellness on the rollout of the vaccine. Of special note was the overall decline in COVID-19 cases, bringing the daily positivity rate from twenty percent in November and December down to four point five percent.  There will be a four-phase rollout plan, starting by the end of March. The initial stay will cover over two hundred thousand Belizeans in one hundred and twenty days and will start with healthcare workers, the elderly, vulnerable citizens with mental and physical disabilities, teachers and other frontline persons.   Cabinet has given approval for the Ministry of Tourism and Diaspora Relations to introduce a long-stay visitor program to allow for extended visitor permits for targeted visitors and nationalities.  This program is aimed at encouraging tourists to stay longer through a “Work Where You Vacation” Program. In addition, Cabinet gave its approval for the Ministry of Tourism to expand and improve the Qualified Retired Persons Incentive Program.  Finally, it was decided to recommend that stipends paid by public utilities and statutory bodies to non-executive directors be cut by fifty percent effective March 2021.