CARICOM committee to focus on protecting region from coronavirus

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC –  Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, says an expanded bureau of Heads of Government has been established to, among other things, marshall resources in an effort to protect the region from the coronavirus.

Speaking during a press conference on Sunday, Mottley said that the subcommittee with representatives from Barbados, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia and Antigua and Barbuda “will start work immediately to see how – in partnership with PAHO and CAPHA, we can work with these stakeholders to immediately meet our concerns, nationally, regionally and internationally in order to increase the capacity to contain and manage any outbreak.

“The chances of us finding severe cases and really one in five and even then, of those, the number of persons going into intensive care unit is very limited.”

The press conference followed a special meeting with some Heads of Government, Caribbean Ministers of Health and representatives from the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA).

“There is no part of the world that will be spared…it is entirely in our capacity to manage and contain, we can do that – as small island states – but it is going to require cooperation and partnership to detect, contain and manage the progress,” Mottley said.

During Sunday’s meeting, regional representatives met primarily with persons involved in the cruise industry.

One of the representatives was Chief Executive Officer of Carnival Corporation, Arnold Donald, who sought to assure the region that the company is committed to the safety of passengers.

“Today, we have a number of screening procedures and protocols in place ….the protocols tend to serve us well and we fine tune them for the specific illnesses. We are encouraging everyone to align with the procedures from the WHO (World Health Organisation) – while keeping our crew, guests, and locals healthy and safe.”

Mottley told reporters that a meeting will be held with representatives from the airline industry on March 13.

She urged Caribbean nationals to be vigilant and to be guided by the authorities in the various member states. 

“The most important thing is that people have clarity as to what is happening. This is not an easy moment for any of us…in the last decade alone, air travel has doubled, it means that we are fighting new forces in our ability to detect, contain and manage any public health outbreak, not just this one.”

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