While we were with the Minister of Public Service, News Five also asked him for an update on the three director posts that were created to usurp the duties of former Director of Health Services, Doctor Marvin Manzanero. As you may recall, back in November, vacancies came out for a Director of Hospital Services and […]
The number of businesses in the Belize District being affected by COVID19 is alarming. Since the week began, we have been hearing daily reports of businesses closing for sanitization and testing. These range from banks to restaurants. It’s a tell tale sign of how wide spread the infections are in the current COVID19 wave. When […]
And while it seems as if no one can escape this current wave, there are steps businesses can take to potentially prevent going on complete lockdown. Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa, Deputy Regional Health Manager, Central Health Region “I think that most businesses that deal with the general public, and have a continuous flow, may have […]
COVID-19 numbers are skyrocketing – it’s the highest the country has ever seen since the virus was first detected in Belize. Belizeans are alarmed and wondering what will happen next. The big question is: will we go into another lockdown? Minister Henry Charles Usher told News Five today that Cabinet continues to be advised by […]
So given the COVID data, is cabinet planning to institute a new statutory instrument to adjust COVID-19 regulations? Still in effect is S.I. one-fifty-one of 2021, which in early December had changed the curfew so it begins at eleven p.m. from Sundays to Thursdays, and twelve midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. That S.I. expires on […]
In February, all visitors to Belize will be required to buy Belize Travel Health Insurance. The Belize Tourism Board states that the mandate is to protect travelers against medical and other expenses incurred if they test positive for COVID-19 during their stay. The cost will be eighteen U.S. dollars, and the plan covers up to […]
This morning, sometime around eight-thirty, coastguard personnel on routine patrol in the vicinity of Half Moon Caye, within the Lighthouse Reef Atoll, came across a substantial quantity of high-grade marijuana. The tightly concealed packages, amounting to almost thirty-two kilograms, were afloat in an area that is frequented by tourists. It’s a sizeable haul with a […]
There is a new development in a story we brought you from southern Belize on Wednesday. The eldest son of a man killed in San Roman village has been charged with his murder. Police arrested twenty-three year old Olvin Rivas after their investigations into the incident that occurred early Tuesday. A younger son told News […]
The Belize Crime Observatory has released data from the years 2020 and most of 2021. Project Coordinator, Adele Ramos, appeared on Open Your Eyes this morning. She said as expected, the pandemic and its accompanying lockdowns and other restrictions had a strong impact on some categories of crime, causing a dramatic drop in some types. […]
But Belize City remained a hot spot, and the Crime Observatory data is being used to help formulate a multi agency response. Adele Ramos says, however, violence crime prevention needs wider community support. Adele Ramos, InfoSegura Belize, Project Coordinator & Interim Technical Coordinator, Belize Crime Observatory “But, where we saw the greatest challenge I […]
Earlier this week, Commissioner of Police Chester Williams announced that A.C.P. Richard Rosado, Commander of Eastern Division, would be elevated to the post of Deputy Commissioner. Dr. Rosado’s rise to head of Operations and Crime comes at a critical juncture for the Belize Police Department. But, the public may know little about Dr. Rosado, aside […]
Today, the new Minister of Religious Affairs, Henry Charles Usher, responded to the L.G.B.T. group, Our Circle. The human rights organization wrote an open letter to the minister, expressing concern and seeking clarity on a statement made by him earlier this week about aligning public service with Christian principles. While it didn’t sit too well […]
The United Belize Advocacy Movement, Belize Trans Colors and Empower Yourself Movement, U.N.I.B.A.M., has also called on the Minister of Public Service to correct— what they say is— his misrepresentation of the Constitution. A statement from the organization claims the current effort to establish religious affairs within his Ministry threatens the progress government has made […]
In this week’s Cabinet meeting, the Prime Minister and his advisors were given the report of the Commission of Inquiry into the sale of government assets. According to the PM’s office, cabinet condemned the detailed reports of mismanagement, waste, fraud, abuse, and corruption, which they say “have come to so clearly define the United Democratic […]
Minister Rodwell Ferguson is literally only four days in as the new Minister of Sports, but he has served in this capacity before, under the Said Musa administration. He says his predecessor, Minister Kevin Bernard, already has a good system in place and that there is no need to fix what isn’t broken. Rodwell […]
The COVID numbers have been rising since the latter part of December, and the guidelines say we should be keeping our distance and follow other safety measures. But, the seating capacity in the public transportation system remains at one hundred percent. Today, Minister of Transportation, Rodwell Ferguson, says we just have to adhere to the […]
Minister Ferguson was also in charge of Youth in 2007. Back then he said he physically walked the streets of Belize City and tried to organize young people, listen to their concerns and solve the issues affecting them. He told us a similar forum was already held in Dangriga on Wednesday. He says key issues […]
The Development Finance Corporation and the CARICOM Development Fund have entered into an agreement for a Credit Risk Abatement Facility. It is aimed at providing small and medium enterprises with access to financing for investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. Belize is now one of five CARICOM countries to have adopted the C.D.F.’s […]
What does trust have to do with economics? The Inter-American Development Bank says it is everything. The I.D.B.’s latest report focuses on the lack of trust in Latin America and the Caribbean in post pandemic economic recovery. Their conclusion is that strong trust will power a strong rebound. However, weak levels of trust undermine growth […]
History buffs may be interested in a new book published on the study of land and property in Belize. It’s called the “Origins of a Colonial Order in Belize in nineteenth and twentieth Centuries,” and it was written by Odile Hoffmann. She was the Director of the French Centre for Mexican and Central American Studies […]
There may be nothing worse than worrying about a sick child. But, over the past few months that is exactly what health care workers and families all over Belize have had to do with the increase in paediatric COVID cases. In tonight’s episode of COVID Chronicles, News Five’s Duane Moody introduces you to a paediatrician […]
It’s only three days into the reopening of schools for hybrid learning across the country, but there are already reports that COVID-19 may be spreading at some schools. Reports began circulating on social media that teachers and students from several schools in the Belize District have tested positive for COVID. This, of course, was cause […]
C.E.O. Maheia noted that schools must strictly adhere to their preventative measures in order to prevent an outbreak in school. This will require schools to strongly enforce these regulations at the front gate. C.E.O. Maheia also advised parents to monitor their children, and to keep them away from school if they are displaying flu like […]
According to Total Business Solution Limited’s website, Belize has now reached a record high of COVID-19 cases since the disease was first detected in the country in March of 2020. Data coming from T.B.S.L.’s website shows that there are now six thousand and eighty-eight active recorded cases in the country. Up to last week Friday, […]
Since the announcement on Monday that the Briceño administration has replaced Michel Chebat as Minister of Health and Wellness, we have been fielding various perspectives on the ability of his successor to reorganize the public health system amid the ongoing pandemic. With former two-time Orange Walk Mayor Kevin Bernard at the helm, his cabinet colleagues […]
