good afternoon and fashion brown with the midday news the government is
projecting a fallout in the economy from the kovat 19 the virus has killed more
than 3000 people globally the vast majority in China where the virus
originated no our reporter ocean masters was at the meeting of the National
Disaster Risk Management Council this morning and no joins us live first of
all uh Shane what's the government's assessment of the impact of the corona
virus on Jamaica well Russian the government says while they are expecting
a significant followed in the economy it should be short-lived no Prime Minister
Andrew Holness says the growth figures for the country are also expected to go
down in the meantime he noted that some adjustments will be made in the body to
tackle the threat of the Cova 90 this will require obviously if it happens if
it are if it comes to Jamaica some adjustments in our budget we will have
to make the fiscal allocations for it the Ministry of Finance is aware and we
are prepared to do so should it happen what about tourism for
example well that sector has already begun to feel the impact as bookings
aren't done no we know that Italy has been impacted by the corona virus
well Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett says Jamaica has lost in that market he
also gave some projections for the tourism ministry so far we have
projected that ceteris paribus yes we should see a fall of somewhere around 3%
to 4% of the growth that we projected so we could close the year
with a 1% to one and a half percent growth over last you know the Health
Minister which is front and center leading the charge against Cove in 19
has come up with a methodology of the worst case scenario that is if the virus
which Jamaica what would be the likely impact
on citizens the modeling is suggesting that if the virus comes to Jamaica and
follows the normal pattern of spread as we have had in terms of other SARS type
or influenza type occurrences we could see up to 1.1 to 1.7 million persons in
the population being impacted by the virus
no I hasten to say that some people will have it done it only means drinking some
orange juice but the virus doesn't affect everybody
the same way right this is like the common cold but so from that you would
have just under 2,000 hospitalization in year one I'm talking and you would have
over 360 to 400 high dependency or ICU related admissions those our persons
would require fairly substantial support no meanwhile the Prime Minister's issued
this reassurance to the country I am NOT saying here to Jamaica that we don't
have a serious situation that it doesn't require diligence and an elevated sense
of caution but there is no need for panic there is absolutely no need for
panic because that panic leads sometimes to actions which can have long-term
effects certainly on our economy and how Jamaica is viewed as a hospitable open
friendly society all right thank you so much Shane thanks and we have much more
on this story in primetime news at 7 all right thank you a report ocean masters
they're reporting on the National Disaster Risk Management Council meeting
this morning meanwhile the global death toll from the
corona virus no stands at 3190 while more than 93 thousand people
have been infected in more than 80 countries in China 38 more people have
died South Korea reported 516 new cases on Wednesday bringing its total to five
thousand three hundred and twenty eight in India 15 Italian citizens have tested
positive there have been more infections in Australia Japan and New Zealand and
in the United States death toll from kovat 19 rose to 11 on Wednesday after
California announced its first death linked to the virus as new cases emerged
around two New York City and Los Angeles California declared a state of emergency
and we go to other news now hopes of finding oil and Jamaican Shores have
been dashed at least for now that revelation from Energy Minister Fievel
Williams she was responding to questions about oil exploration in Jamaica during
yesterday's meeting of the Standing Finance Committee here is Janelle
oversees the search for oil began sometime in 2015 when the Jamaican
government signed an MoU with multinational oil and gas exploration
company tulla oil PLC interestingly it was that same year huge oil reserves
were discovered Afghanistan tree has joined the ranks of the world's oil
producers back home in Jamaica not so much luck last year there was an
announcement that they had completed the 3d seismic mapping and you know there
could possibly be some deposits there of oil right the company has said to us
that in order to go further than which 3d seismic mapping to actually know the
quantum what it is that's there they would need to drill the contract between
the company and the government has expired but the energy minister favore
Williams says additional time has been sought to commence drilling it's a very
expensive proposition it said they did not want to do it alone they wanted some
additional time beyond the contract expiration to find find a partner
because you know they asked us for another six months or so to try to find
a partner the minister expressed doubt however that this would happen soon I do
not believe that that exploration effort will go any further that's amazing
because you've reported that the 3d seismic was positive they viewed our
beat underwater potential locations for large deposits of oil or and/or gas
weren't you in negotiations with epsilon and wouldn't they being deeper pocketed
than Toto be able to take this up the contract with was not signed
they were at the point of pulling out because it took so long alright to get
to design in this contract so of course we saw the urgency in the situation
ensured that whatever process is needed to be completed Repsol the house was
told had a change of heart and didn't sign the contract and we take a break on
midday news but stay with us more stories right after these messages
welcome back continuing the news now at least two entertainment zones are
scheduled to come on stream by the end of this fiscal year
Entertainment Minister Olivia Grange says the government is in the process of
finalizing the acquisition of the properties 45 billion has been allocated
for the projects we have identified properties in Negril in st. Anne in San
Tomas in fact we are exploring the possibility
of having an entertainment zone facility that will also facilitate beach parties
and activities that would attract visitors as well
Minister Grange who was speaking at the Standing Finance Committee of Parliament
yesterday said the first entertainment is owned for two rocky in Kingston is
almost complete the work is being done in tandem with the Jamaican national
heritage trust and the UDC and so phase one is almost complete
4/4 rocky for trucking yes and and so on we uncovered a number of important
artifacts that will further enhance Port Royal a call for the cruise ships parish
manager for Centre James the public health the Lennox Wallis is responding
to concerns about a mold which has been affecting employees at the Montego Bay
Inland Revenue regional office until their staff members were seen leaving
the building due to the smell of noxious fumes which they claimed were making
them sick in an interview with TV G news mr. Wallace said plans are on the way to
resolve the matter public a team would have carried out an inspection and would
have found evidence of more growth on the first and second floor of the
facility fifty percent of the 200 staff were affected we made some
recommendations some of which would have been carried out immediately to ensure
that the facility who remain open until the other
recommendations were being carried out and still in st. James the police are
trying to find the motive for the murder of an American tourist whose body was
found in a room at Hotel Gloriana in Montego Bay this morning the deceased
has since been identified as Theodore walling of a Michigan address in the
United States about 9:45 a housekeeper went to clean mr. wallings room when she
discovered his body lying in a pool of blood on the bed mr. walling had what
appeared to be stab wounds to the upper part of his body a suspect is in custody
in connection with Sunday's double killing in Greenacres Spanish stone sand
catherine he was detained yesterday morning in elephant park in the parish
the police reported that 49 year old Sharon Mae brown and a 64 year old
Travis Jewett both from Santa Teresa Road in Greenacres
were attacked sometime after 9 o'clock Sunday night investigators say mr. green
was escorting Miss Brown home when a man approached them mr. green was shot while
Ms Brown was chased and stabbed several times the Portmore Municipal Corporation
is hoping to move taxes now terminating at the Portmore mall to a piece of land
almost behind the shopping area this following complaints of traffic
congestions and in disciplined behavior by taxi operators at the port Marmol
mayor of Port Marley on Thomas explains that the Transport Authority issues Road
licenses which are low taxi operators to terminate at the mall but he says
there's no space to facilitate the practice the management of the port more
more are saying that they cannot accommodate at a time in our our anybody
to terminate within the mall because there is no speeds because when you look
at they the motorists who drive to the mall to conduct business there is no
space there fine a taxi to terminate so it leaves no other place more than to
terminate on the road he laments that the practice is causing serious traffic
pile-up in near the port more mall especially at peak
we are looking at terminate in the urn when you are exiting you're going to
exit by megawatt so that road will be super we want to have it to be a one-way
so you will you will enter like oh you enter no and then you go into this van
and then when you are leaving the stand then you you exit the mayor also
stressed that once the taxi stand is in effect taxi operators won't be allowed
to use the mall as a term hello we are going to make certain that as soon as we
finish it will be a zero tolerance and any taxable who continue to park on the
front after more there's alley by that is there that the Ju TC buses will
terminate pickup on let off and then continue but all the taxi operators we
are asking you to terminate around bird shop and that's the midday news and
Vashon Braun join us at 7:00 for prime time news package on behalf of the new
sports and production teams have a Grafton