good afternoon and Vashon brown with the midday news a special welcome if you're
watching on one spot Mediacom if measures being implemented by the
Health Ministry are not adhere to the likelihood of Jamaica getting over the
cove in nineteen pandemic any time soon could get bleaker with over four
thousand six hundred and eight coronavirus cases by april 12 this
following projections which were revealed by the contras chief medical
officer at the latest press briefing at a jamaica house yesterday more in this
report since the country recorded its first case of The Cove in nineteen the
government has sought to institute measures to limit physical contact
between individuals as a measure to combat the spread of the corona virus in
a population of almost three million people but despite that physical
distancing is not being adhered to by some chief medical officer dr.
Jacqueline Bisset so McKenzie painted a grim picture for the island if the
measures introduced by the government are not followed she said if the
authorities managed to keep cases doubling only every eight days there
would be 126 cases by April 12 and 432 by April 2006 meanwhile dr. mrs.
Mackenzie stressed the importance of physical distancing based on the
assumption that each person has the potential to infect 2.5 persons dr. BC
so McKenzie says coronavirus cases could quickly spike
if Jamaicans do not maintain their distance if one person affects 2.5
persons and 2.5 persons each infect 2.5 more persons over a 30-day period what
it is that we will see happening is that we would have four hundred and six
persons infected now that is a significant number of persons if it is
that we reduce the exposure by social by social distancing and we reduce that
social exposure by seventy five percent we have looked at the probe at the
projections we see that by day 30 we would only have
2.5 persons infected if it is that we reduce social exposure by 50% then we
would only have about 15 persons that are infected by that one person over a
30 day period however she said the cases could double at a faster rate
if Jamaicans do not heed the warnings if there are persons who have had contact
with our 36 confirmed cases if they do not stay at home then our numbers will
also rise and we will move from a potential doubling every eight days to
possibly a doubling every five days and worst case where we could have a
doubling every two days resulting in a significant number of cases according to
the graph here 4608 possibly confirmed by the 12th of april if it is that
persons do not take their responsibilities seriously Prince more
TVJ news one financial analyst is of the view that the daily curfew announced
yesterday by Prime Minister Andrew Holness is the right move at this time
to control the spread of the coronavirus Financial Analysts Bennis John contends
that at the time for total lockdown has passed
he says the announced curfew along with other restrictive measures should
effectively minimize the spread of the virus the right thing to do right no it
does a government has done because we have lost the opportunity from day one
is to do a curfew at night and minimize the risk of the virus spreading more at
night and you know a night south of is when people are going or people still
here having gatherings and parties and when people go at night and drink
alcohol mix alcohol with the virus and see what happens also although we have a
nightly curfew there's going to be enforcement against gatherings even
during the day so when you have the curfew are along with all the other
restrictions you minimizing the virus spreading even
further now he says a total lot Don of the contract this time would result in
significant economic fallout the leaders of two critical sets of health care
workers are bracing for challenges to come as it relates to the availability
of personal protective equipment for their members on the front line dealing
with kovat 19 cases the Nurses Association of Jamaica and the Jamaica
medical doctors Association are not yet satisfied with the current inventory but
are confident that what is available is being put to the best use the update
follows confirmation that a healthcare worker in Jamaica has tested positive
for Cove in 19 president of the Jamaica medical doctors Association dr. Ellen
Thompson is anticipating shortages in the future but believes the problem can
be addressed he was speaking yesterday on radio Jamaica's beyond the headlines
inventory the guys so protective where this conversation about incompatible I
don't think we'll ever get there America all the developed countries are
uncomfortable with what they are I don't think a developing country like Jamaica
is ever going to be comfortable what we can do is prepare as best as possible
and when we look back at this we don't want to see we could have done better so
what we want to do to restore best in terms of preparation so I think we're
going to have shortfalls with with when it comes to inventory in certain aspects
what we want is when we look back we said we have done the best that we could
the political representative for southeast Clarendon is moving to quell
unrest in the area following questions from constituents about his plans for
government approved funds for the covert 19 response of a Pernell Charles Jr is
stressing the money has not yet been dispersed he feels the questions about
the some are the result of political gamesmanship more in the support from
doing Anderson Prime Minister Andrew Holness doing his budget presentation
announced that the government would be allocating 126 million dollars from the
constituency Development Fund to the 63 members of parliament each MP would
therefore receive 2 million dollars for their pandemic response
but the plant spent is the source of contention in South East Clarendon the
constituency is the home of the only community under quarantine
following the imposition of a lockdown on the corn peace settlement but MP
Bernal Charles jr. does not believe the questions about the money are from
disgruntled residents in the quarantine zone there again a lot of questions
because there is information going around know where announcements are
being made that this MP has received three million dollars and people are
wondering so if you receive three million dollars what you doing with it
so we have to clarify a little bit clearer that the government allocated
three million two million towards kovaydin 1 million towards water but it
hasn't been received it it is money allocated that will be received in the
new financial year and so any unknowns meant that 3 million was received and we
want to know what's happening to it is adding to the the mischief I don't know
if that's the objective but inadvertently it is causing a lot of
confusion for for a lot of persons the MP has therefore called for persons with
ulterior motives to stop spreading confusion about the cove 819 money and
speaking of money mr. Chow junuh had some good news for the residents
including farmers for instance the bartender's the bar and shop owners who
are not opening or closed to have no revenue coming in who will need support
for their families and so we are trying to institute a program to provide
support and also to utilize our farmers in the community who now have produce
and we have surplus so that we provide support for them a whole cycle of
productivity so we're going to be spending some of our money to ensure
that the care packages include food from our farmers so that the farmers
themselves will be able to get some revenue and they'll be able to take care
of their families and this is something which is needed not just for the crisis
now but something which we need Institute as a normal procedure the
quarantine measure in corn piece started on March 20 and should last for 14 days
due in Anderson TV J news and we now take a break on the midday news but
we'll be right back please stay with us
welcome back continuing the news the Transport Authority has implemented new
measures to deal with the anticipated influx of persons seeking to renew road
licenses at this time the move follows a buildup of customers
that it's maxfield Avenue office in Santana on Monday where the security
forces had to be called in one day transport operators gathered at the
transport authorities office in st. Andrew seeking to renew their documents
one operator explained that he arrived to do his transaction at 7:30 that
morning but with kovat 19 concerns and social gathering restrictions now being
enforced only a few persons were allowed to enter the premises and we're told
that only 16 people were allowed to enter 10 doing universe and 6 doing
pickups subsequently for me my to get our own
200 people were here the customers we spoke with were upset as they believed
the proper measures were not put in place to deal with the usual high
numbers at this time of year Carwin mother's big line the back are no more
enough no still on for Carlota no more gas the Fri here if a bomb drop an idiot
reunion car in abuela the government should I make a regulation that when we
come they'll give us a ticket I'll give you a time you give her a ticket you say
you come back nine o'clock you come back ten minutes after 9:00 fifteen minutes
top nine that's where it's supposed to go for this came and told us to disperse
many people didn't and so when major police officer came up and he said that
he'll be calling the jail JDF to come and disperse the crowd so said so it
done however while acknowledging that there was an issue of the office general
operations manager at the transport or authorities as a morgan says it was all
caused to find the usual last minute approach to paying fees the licenses are
to be renewed before the start of a new financial year on April 1 but the
operators came on the last two days despite this however mr. Morgan says in
light of a restrictions relating to the kovat 19 pandemic the or authority has
no implemented a 14 day grace period during which all licenses may be renewed
without late fees he says the police have also been advised not to seize
vehicles for this period a Dropbox facility has also been implemented for
applications receipts for payments and the pickup of
license within hours or Shane masters TVJ news a caution this afternoon for
Jamaicans not to increase their consumption of alcoholic beverages
during the kovat 19 outbreak according to research analyst at the National
Council for drug abuse and CDA Yukie Atkinson both drinking and smoking can
weaken the body she believes the kovat 19 pandemic could cause additional
stress on persons which could lead to substance abuse or
cause those seeking to break their substance use habit to relapse while
speaking on TV Jai's smell Jamaica program this morning miss Atkinson said
since the kovat 19 old brick clans have been reaching out to the agency for help
I mean we have gotten calls from clients to say no Kara I don't know the
hopelessness I just need to feel like I'm going to relapse because as we know
substance use disorder is a highly reliable type of condition you know so
in times of stress so what we really want to telogen the general public is to
look out for those family members and friends who you know who are more likely
to you know go back into their what do you do is it executive director of the
NCD michael tucker is cautioning against using alcoholic beverages as a stress
reliever during this period of confinement in an environment like this
with all the fear factor stress yes so they're anxious they're bored they're
they're normal normally we have operating has been disrupted and then
you have often staying home kids present a number what I think I'm trying to
reorganize your life around that and also drinking at home as opposed to
social drinking where you may be out with friends and just having a drink
it's totally different tend to consume more when Marshall some overcome there's
a line in it that said don't drown yourself in a smoke our own this is not
the time to drown yourself in those things because it's not going to help if
you contracted alright a news from the region no Bermuda has recorded a further
five confirmed cases of the corona virus taking Vallance total to 27 tests showed
that three of the new cases were imported while two had close contact
with a previously confirmed case all of the imported cases arrived on British
Airways flights from a London's Gatwick Airport on March 13 15 and 17 premier
David Burt told a news conference that of the islands 27 total cases to remain
in hospital in stable condition 15 were mostly at home with malice
symptoms and ten have fully recovered one of the 27 is a police employee he
said there is still no confirmed cases of local community transmission of the
virus in Bermuda still from the region we go to Trinidad where two more cases
of kovat 19 were announced last night the country's total now stands at 85
with three deaths and one patient who has recovered 550 tests for the virus
have been conducted news for the field as coronavirus cases continued to soar
across the United States health professionals are looking at new tools
to come back to spread now experts say more testing rapid results and
sterilization of masks will help details from the CNN over 1 million Americans
have now been tested it's a grim milestone in the fight against the
spread of the corona virus illinois-based Abbott testing plans to
rule out 50,000 tests each day starting this week showing results in less than
15 minutes Trump administration officials say it's a new weapon in the
battle against Cove in 19 just like tests for flu or strep we go to the
doctors you get the test done you can get an answer within minutes of having
this test done nurses and doctors on the front line of the war against the virus
are falling victim to it we have about 41 people in our hospital who have
tested positive for the corona virus because they say they don't have enough
protective gear we know how this is transmitted we know that this is
incredibly contagious and where we're seeing it we're being exposed over and
over again companies like this one in Alaska are making facemask and other
equipment to feed the need and now the FDA says it has a plan sterilization
machines each machine can disinfect 120,000 masks per day it'll be just like
a new one it could go up to about 20 times for each mask so each mask can go
through this process 20 times the nation's top infectious diseases experts
says ultimately the weapon most needed to defeat the
corona virus may be a vaccine that's already in the works
we have a vaccine that's on track and mole
other candidates panelist ports the jmf has heaped praise on the coaches and
players after the reggae girls achieved the biggest to jump on the FIFA World
Rankings released last Friday the girls sit in a historic 50th position in the
rankings Karen Madden reports following their historic World Cup appearance last
summer the National Senior Women's team suffered a hiccup when they failed to
advance to the 2020 Olympic Games which has since been postponed to next summer
due to the cove in nineteen pandemic but that setback did not stop the wreck
again some advance into the top 50 teams in the world jmf president Michael
Ricketts was full of praise for the Caribbeans number one women's team
pleasure delighted that destroyed by the girls would have made over the last
maybe 25 years at the end of 2017 when this administration I've got into office
the girls around 119 are in to an hour of years we have managed to have move
that around meanwhile Ricketts says of the matter of outstanding salaries has
been settled when we work in class recorder we before we got on they
balance from FIFA so they have been paid for something straight up info and I
would thinks anybody know all the staff members would obviously and that's the
midday news and fashion Brown Jonas at 7:00 for prime time news package on
behalf of the new sports and production teams have a wonderful afternoon