Residents of San Felipe and Blue Creek Villages in Orange Walk District, whom health officials believe may have been in physical contact with persons who recently tested positive for the virus, will be swabbed within the next few days, as a contact tracing exercise continues in those communities. Today, Director of Health Services, Doctor Marvin […]
Orange Walk District is the last to have recorded cases of COVID-19; however, it presently has the most active cases. In Santa Elena on Tuesday, a man in his early fifties also tested positive for COVID-19 and health officials are trying to determine where the case originated from. According to the DHS, the patient reported […]
The latest coronavirus patient is a businessman whose livelihood is scrapping vehicles. His wife, who is also part of the contact tracing exercise, is a clothing vendor at the San Ignacio market. Both have informed the Ministry of Health that they have traveled across the country and have had contact with several other persons prior […]
The Senate today also debated the appointment of attorney Estevan Perrera to the post of Chairman of the Elections and Boundaries Commission. He succeeds former chairman, Doug Singh, who resigned after he was heard in audio recording making offensive and derogatory remarks against poor Belizeans who were seeking assistance promised by the Barrow Administration. That […]
Attorney Deshawn Arzu-Torres’ appointment was also before the senate. She was reappointed to the post of Chairman of the Integrity Commission. Arzu-Torres was first appointed on June first, 2018 for a two-year term. She succeeded Marilyn Williams who vacated the seat to take up an appointment at the Supreme Court. In 2018, Arzu-Torres’ appointment was […]
Coming down hard with criticisms against the government was the Opposition Senators. One of the roles of the commission is to guard against illicit enrichment by public officials. Besides calling for a fully resourced office, the P.U.P. is calling for a chairman who has the courage to investigate any member of the government. Michel […]
The reopening of the Philip Goldson International Airport is not without opposition; there are concerns about the risks associated with international visitors being allowed to enter Belize from countries recording epic numbers of the new coronavirus. Within the region, some Caribbean countries, which had reopened to international tourists, have had to shut down as the […]
While concerns are being raised about the reopening of the Philip Goldson International Airport one month from today and the idea of visitors spreading COVID-19 in the country, the primary concern, according to Doctor Marvin Manzanero, is Belizeans who will also be returning home and visiting friends and family. That, he says, poses a more […]
…and how ready is the tourism industry for the reopening to international visitors? For some time now, hotels and properties across the country have been following sanitization guidelines set by the Ministry of Tourism in anticipation of arriving guests to reduce risks on employees and prevent any spread of the virus. Tourism Director Karen Bevans […]
Assistant Commissioner of Police Marco Vidal is at home recovering from a stroke that he suffered one week ago. Today, Commissioner of Police Chester Williams told the media that Vidal was released from the hospital and is in good spirits. Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police “Mr. Vidal, I must say, is coming along quite […]
The Scenes of Crime Unit has relocated from the Queen Street Police Station to a rental office space of Barrow and Williams, the Prime Minister’s law firm building on Albert Street. Last week, Minister of National Security Michael Peyrefitte confirmed the move, saying he had viewed the space. Today, the press asked Commissioner of Police […]
The State of Emergency remains in place for the villages of San Felipe and Blue Creek. And if you think you are getting in or out, Commissioner of Police Chester Williams says that is not happening under any regular circumstance, as long as the S.O.E. is in place. The only movement in and out is […]
The Belize Police Department says that it is taking policing of the border jumping and contraband trade to another level. In the coming days the department will have five hotlines and will be running public service announcements to target the illegal entry and trade. Today, Commissioner Chester Williams told the press about their next moves […]
The Belize Police Department says that COVID-19 and budgetary restrictions prevented them from observing their Annual Police Week. But what they didn’t cut back was the appreciation for citizens who support the efforts of the police. Today, the department held its first ever National Citizen Appreciation Day at all police stations across the country. Today, […]
On March twenty-first, the Public Utilities Commission suspended the full tariff reviewing proceeding for Belize Electricity Limited based on the utility company’s recommendation, as well as the state of emergency declared as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Just a day earlier, B.E.L. had made a formal objection to the P.U.C.’s initial decision regarding the […]
There were happy faces at the Biltmore Plaza today; more than two thousand four hundred children will benefit from tuition relief given to eighteen schools. The scholarship comes at a critical time since at households across the country the economic situation is grim due to COVID-19. The initiative is courtesy of the Lifeline Foundation, headed […]
Gapi Vega is out in Orange Walk North. The former Deputy prime Minister had been inactive and without a portfolio for some time but resurfaced when John Saldivar launched his candidacy. His fall from grace came when it was exposed that his son Andre, had been given hundreds of thousands of dollars for land compensation […]
Another U.D.P. minister to exit the political stage is Pickstock Area Representative Wilfred ‘Sedi’ Elrington. He is demitting office at the end of his tenure and like Vega, he has also expressed publicly that he will not be seeking re-election under Faber’s stewardship of the United Democratic. It leaves his successor in quite a predicament, […]
With desertions under this leadership come in, all eyes are on Patrick Faber. Senate President Darrell Bradley is one of the names popping up to fill one of those empty seats in the City. With all the dynamic changes within the party we asked him on Sunday for a perspective on these sudden developments and […]
Robberies and other crimes continue to increase across the country; in broad daylight today, a Madisco delivery van was robbed. But is it an inside job? Surveillance camera images show as a gunman relieve one of two men inside the van of a bag containing an undisclosed amount of cash. The men, employees of Madisco, […]
The Caribbean Court of Justice has ruled that the Court of Appeal should hear an appeal filed by D.P.P. Cheryl-Lynn Vidal in respect to Calaney Flowers. Flowers who was acquitted of the hit and run murder of her ex-boyfriend, Lyndon Morrison, is still fighting to remain free despite the matter making its way through the […]
There is bad news tonight for persons who rely on the National Health Insurance Programme. A notice was issued today and it says that all referrals have been exhausted for the month of July, and that clients will now be required to pay for these services in full. The N.H.I.’s annual budget was cut and […]
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreck havoc on the economy and budget cuts are been imposed in most sectors, the foreign exchange crunch is not improving. Businesses are being advised that new limits are being imposed beginning this Wednesday. A cap had already been imposed earlier in the pandemic, and the new measure calls […]
There are two new COVID-19 cases to report tonight. The first of these two cases is a repatriated Belizean. The patient is a male who arrived on a repatriation flight on Friday, July tenth. He is under quarantine and is asymptomatic. The second patient is a man in his fifties who was a patient at […]
Two more cases of COVID-19 cases were recorded today. The concerning cases comes out of the Cayo District where an elderly man who found himself at the San Ignacio Community Hospital over the weekend with gastrointestinal symptoms and a loss of sense of taste. He is currently doing better at his home where he was […]
