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One country that has been hailed to have successfully contained the virus is Taiwan. Today, Taiwan reported no new cases of the COVID-19 for the first time in thirty-six days. According to media reports, Taiwan has reported only three hundred and ninety-three infections in total, with most of the cases being imported, and only six […]
Written on April 14, 2020 | Posted in
Health |
Comments Off on Belize Learning from Taiwan’s COVID-19 Best Practices
Since the Ministry of Health began screening and testing exercises in detection of COVID-19, a total of six hundred tests have been conducted. That was out of a diminishing number of kits that were available locally. While additional kits will be procured from the Cayman Islands, Director of Health Services Doctor Marvin Manzanero reported earlier […]
Written on April 14, 2020 | Posted in
Health |
Comments Off on More Testing Kits a Cometh
When pressed about the twenty-five thousand kits that were being donated by South Korea through SICA, that the Ministry of Health declined in March, the DHS said that the ministry’s lab technicians are trained in administering tests using kits that were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Marvin Manzanero, Director of […]
Written on April 14, 2020 | Posted in
Health |
Comments Off on DHS Explains Why South Korean Test Kits Were Refused
Three police officers, including a corporal, have been arrested and charged following the coercion of two Belize City residents into a sexual act last Tuesday. Forty-six-year-old Jason Shaw, thirty-eight-year-old Leslie Martinez and twenty-year-old Anthony Villamil were arraigned earlier today for the crime of willful oppression. That’s because a report was filed by a forty-five-year-old laborer […]
Written on April 14, 2020 | Posted in
Crime |
Comments Off on Three Wayward Cops Arraigned for Sexual Coercion
There have been over five hundred persons and counting arrested for violating the emergency powers regulation with respect to the state of emergency and curfew. On Sunday, further restrictions were put in place in terms of movement of persons and there were a number of persons who were caught in the net. A total of […]
Written on April 14, 2020 | Posted in
Crime |
Comments Off on 94 Others Arrested Under Emergency Power Regulations, Curfew
While there a number of arrests were made over the weekend for violators of the state of emergency, police are investigating a case of sudden death in the west. Earlier today, the decomposing body of an elderly man was found near a dumpsite in the Valley of Peace Village, Cayo District. According to information reaching […]
Written on April 14, 2020 | Posted in
Crime |
Comments Off on Decomposing Body of Elderly Man Found at Dumpsite in Valley of Peace
Earlier, we reported that the K.H.M.H.A. Workers Union reached agreement on some areas during a meeting with the PM. Among the other complaints over COVID-19 that have surfaced includes one from the Belize Medical and Dental Association, which states it has been excluded from meetings. According to the association, this is a form of victimization […]
Written on April 14, 2020 | Posted in
Health,
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
Comments Off on Was the BMDA Blocked from Virtual M.O.H. Meeting?
At least three countries in the region: Cayman Islands, Bahamas and Barbados, have complained that equipment placed on order for the COVID-19 pandemic, were prevented by the U.S. authorities. The three countries had container loads of personal protective equipment purchased from U.S. vendors blocked from entering their territories by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. A […]
Written on April 14, 2020 | Posted in
Health |
Comments Off on The U.S.A. and Ventilators Delay
The National Association of Village Councils is demanding that village councils be included in the distribution of food under the COVID-19 assistance programmes. Sabido says that villages and communities are clamouring for help that is taking too long to reach them. He says that he and other chairpersons have received an overwhelming number of calls […]
Written on April 14, 2020 | Posted in
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
Comments Off on NAVCO Demands Village Councils Be Included in COVID-19 Food Distribution
If you are frustrated by all the new regulations being introduced including social distancing and other precautionary measures, you might want to buckle down and hang in there. Today during the Ask the Experts online session, Doctor Manzanero says that it is very likely that we’ll have to get used to some of these measures, […]
Written on April 14, 2020 | Posted in
Health |
Comments Off on Social Distancing and other Precautionary Measures May Extend for More Than a Year
There are several food pantry programmes in place by government agencies as well as individuals and humanitarian organizations across the country. The Salvation Army, which caters to thousands of persons, including families, the elderly and children has also been providing an essential service during the COVID-19 crisis. Today, we stopped by the headquarters on Regent […]
Written on April 14, 2020 | Posted in
People & Places,
Social Issues |
Comments Off on Salvation Army & its Food Pantry Programme
The Salvation Army also provides shelter for a number of persons, primarily women and men who are without a roof over their heads. Even with the COVID-19 crisis, their services remain active and more so, but there are precautionary measures in place to protect not only the staff, but the people they serve. Major […]
Written on April 14, 2020 | Posted in
People & Places,
Social Issues |
Comments Off on Salvation Army – Safety for Employees, While Helping Those in Need
Over seven thousand applications out of sixty thousand plus have been approved for the COVID-19 Unemployment Relief Programme. While that is one aid that is being disbursed, other help is available. Those persons who are recipients of the food pantry and boost programmes are still receiving assistance during this time and food pantry recipients are […]
Written on April 14, 2020 | Posted in
People & Places,
Social Issues |
Comments Off on Residents Line Up for Food Assistance in the City!
As we start the Easter weekend, the novel coronavirus continues to spread. Ministry of Health today confirmed the ninth case of the deadly COVID-19. The patient is a female minor who is in self-isolation at home in San Ignacio and is showing no symptoms. This brings the total cases of COVID-19 in the Cayo District […]
Written on April 9, 2020 | Posted in
Featured,
Health |
Comments Off on Belize Confirms 9th COVID-19 Case
On Wednesday it came to light that Belize has rejected thousands of test kits that countries from the Central American Integration System were getting from the South Korean government. The Koreans gifted the kits under SICA’s Regional Contingency Plan to combat the novel coronavirus in the region and was signed on to by Deputy Prime […]
Written on April 9, 2020 | Posted in
Featured,
Health |
Comments Off on Director of Health Services Explains Rejection of Test Kits
Opposition Leader John Briceño, who is the co-chair of the National Oversight Committee, says that the ministry made a mistake by refusing the test kits from SICA. Briceño says that he is at a loss for words as to why Belize would not accept the items, especially since that specific equipment along with viral swabs […]
Written on April 9, 2020 | Posted in
Featured,
Health |
Comments Off on John Briceño Says Let’s Make the System Work
Flu clinics have been set up across the country as part of the efforts to identify COVID-19 cases. In San Ignacio, the clinic was partially set up at the San Ignacio Hospital. But a video recorded by one a doctor shows the shocking state of the western flu clinic. In the video, the doctor describes […]
Written on April 9, 2020 | Posted in
Featured,
Health |
Comments Off on State of San Ignacio Hospital’s Flu Clinic “Discouraging”
One thousand four hundred and eighty-eight applications for the COVID-19 unemployment relief programme have been processed and approved but about five hundred have been disbursed. The number of applications up to Monday morning was forty-four thousand, and with a little less than one thousand five hundred processed, this would be just three point four percent […]
Written on April 9, 2020 | Posted in
Economy,
Featured |
Comments Off on The Status of the COVID-19 Unemployment Relief
Leader of the Opposition John Briceño says that as many as sixty thousand applications for unemployment relief from Belizeans who have been have been left jobless due to the corona virus, have been submitted online under the Government Corona Virus Unemployment Relief Fund. As you heard, one thousand four hundred applications have been processed so […]
Written on April 9, 2020 | Posted in
Featured,
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
Comments Off on The Unemployed Frustrated with Sluggish Relief Program
A two-minute video posted online by the U.D.P. Standard Bearer for Orange Walk Central, Denny Grijalva is being shot down by the Leader of the Opposition and Orange Walk Central Area Representative John Briceño. In the video, a masked Grijalva tells viewers that his team is working on reaching out to residents and offer relief […]
Written on April 9, 2020 | Posted in
Featured,
Miscellaneous,
People & Places,
Politics |
Comments Off on John Briceño: “I find it disgusting”
About sixty-nine persons left today from San Pedro Town to the mainland and others are expected to be transferred this weekend. These are person who lost their jobs and are being allowed to return to their communities of origin. So early this morning, they boarded an authorized vessel provided by San Pedro Belize Express and […]
Written on April 9, 2020 | Posted in
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
Comments Off on A Group of Unemployed Persons Allowed off Ambergris Caye; Situation Grim
While some of the returnees were from Belize City, a number were from the districts and lived on the island to earn their living. But with suspended bus runs and a state of emergency in place, there was concern that they would not be able to reach their homes and families. There are many other […]
Written on April 9, 2020 | Posted in
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
Comments Off on Returnees Had to Get Health Inspection Clearance
Public officers across the country find themselves without their scheduled salary before the Easter; they will now be paid until April fourteenth. While the government is obligated to pay salaries two times per month, it has been the norm at this time of the year that those in the public service are paid before they […]
Written on April 9, 2020 | Posted in
Economy |
Comments Off on John Briceño: “government is under a severe cash flow crunch”
The government today responded to statements made by attorney Audrey Matura on behalf of three liquefied petroleum gas importers as it relates to the G.O.B. blocking the companies from reducing the retail price of butane. In the wake of the state of emergency, the importers intended to provide consumers with a promotional rate on butane. […]
Written on April 9, 2020 | Posted in
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
Comments Off on G.O.B. Fires Back at LPG Importers; John Briceño Asks Gov’t to Reconsider
Farmers suffered millions of dollars in losses in 2019 due to the drought. They were barely recovering when the COVID-19 started to spread in Belize, bringing economic activity to a halt. The farmers are again losing money and unable to export livestock across the border to Guatemala. But while borders are closed, trade continues. Hundreds […]
Written on April 9, 2020 | Posted in
Agriculture,
Economy,
Health |
Comments Off on Farmers Feeling the Brunt of COVID-19
