Paula Lindo Thursday 21 May 2020 Franklin Khan - Eid-ul-Fitr greetings were brought to the nation by members of the Senate on Wednesday following a sitting. Leader of government business Franklin Khan said this year’s Ramadan was one with a difference, as due to public health measures they were not able to congregate and perform iftar. He said he believed that this Ramadan was a test for all Muslims. He said while they were separated from their religious communities, it enabled them to repair and build stronger bonds with their families, especially as children were encouraged to join in the prayer and fasting at home.

Paula Lindo Wednesday 20 May 2020 Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar - File Photo Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar said she believes the climate is responsible for the low numbers of covid19 cases and deaths which have occurred throughout the Caribbean. She said cases and deaths in TT have been slow and few respectively, but it was interesting that the entire Caribbean is in the same position. “So those who say we’ve done very well in Trinidad, we took the right measures and so on, well it means we’ve done very well in the whole Caribbean.”

Paula Lindo Wednesday 20 May 2020 Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh. Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said the Cuban nurses who are in TT to help with the response to covid19 will be paid a dislocation allowance. He said this is normal procedure for any citizen who leaves their home to work in another country, whether as part of a government-to-government arrangement or private sector. He said depending on the terms of the contracts, they may get free travel back and forth, and other allowances that mitigate against the inconvenience of leaving their home countries to go and work in another country, such as expenses involving rent and food, etc. Deyalsingh specified that this arrangement will not disadvantage local nurses and is standard practice around the world. First posted

Paula Lindo Wednesday 20 May 2020 Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram - Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Roshan Parasram says reporting of events such as positive cases of covid19 to the World Health Organisation has to take place within 48 hours of the event and has to fall within certain criteria. He said he is the TT International Health Regulations national focal point and would report directly to the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO). He said he has done so on many occasions thus far, and should any other events occur he would report these within 48 hours.

Paula Lindo Wednesday 20 May 2020 The Red House. - Jeff Mayers The Animal (Diseases and Importation) (Amendment) Bill 2019 was approved with amendments in the Senate on Tuesday. The bill, which has 37 clauses and over 70 pages, seeks to protect and promote animal health and to prevent the introduction and spread of animal diseases within TT and from other countries; to facilitate and regulate trade in animals, carcasses, animal products and animal-related items; to establish standards for animal welfare, and for other connected purposes. The bill was passed after debate during the committee stage over concerns raised by Opposition Senators over the degree of power to be held by an inspector, the penalties which would accrue to owners of pets if they allowed harm to come to animals, particularly from exposure to fireworks, among other matters. The Senate was then adjourned to Wednesday at 10 am. First posted

Paula Lindo Tuesday 19 May 2020 Fitzgerald Hinds, Public Utilities Minister - OPPOSITION Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar said the appointment of Laventille West MP Fitzgerald Hinds to the post of Public Utilities Minister following the resignation of Robert Le Hunte is a holding position for the upcoming election. She said Hinds’ re-appointment to the post, which he held from October 2016 to June 2017, showed that government had no-one of real capability or competence to fill the position. She said even under Le Hunte’s tenure, the current administration failed to provide water, and she did not see any joy coming to the people of TT out of the appointment.

Paula Lindo Thursday 21 May 2020 The Real Estate Agents Bill, 2020 was approved with amendments in the Senate on Wednesday. The bill, which has 83 clauses, is entitled “An Act to provide for the registration and regulation of real estate agents in order to promote transparency, accountability and integrity in the real estate profession, to protect and assist persons engaged in transactions with real estate agents and to assist in the detection and prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, and other related matters.”

My name is Laurent. I am Venezuelan and currently live abroad. I am creating this fun… Laurent Perez necesita tu apoyo para Venezuela Earthquake Family Relief

Paula Lindo Tuesday 19 May 2020 Opposition leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar. - OPPOSITION Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar said the Opposition opposed the Bail (Amendment) (no 2) Bill 2019 because the measures proposed by government could be used as a “weapon” by the ruling PNM going into the general election season. She said it could be used against people not in support of the government. The opposition, she said, felt the bill was too draconian, too much in violation of citizens’ rights without the appropriate checks and balances, “and which can certainly be abused.”

Paula Lindo Tuesday 19 May 2020 Kazim Hosein RURAL development and local government minister Kazim Hosein said the 14 municipal corporations continue to prepare for the upcoming rainy and hurricane seasons. Hosein said his ministry is collaborating with the health ministry and other stakeholders, including the disaster management units of the corporations, to develop additional strategies and precautionary measures for the upcoming seasons. “The data is telling us to expect a very active hurricane season and so it is critical that our disaster response mechanisms are in place early. There are also new concerns about shelter management and the provision of relief items in light of the covid19 pandemic.

Paula Lindo Friday 15 May 2020 Health Minister Terrance Deyalsingh PAULA LINDO After the discharge of the 69 returnees from Suriname later today, the remaining patient at the UWI Penal/Debe campus will be moved to the Cascadia Hotel in St Ann's. Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said this will allow cleaning of the step-down facility. He said this will bring the number of individuals at Cascadia to three, as 12 Cuban nurses have finished their quarantine there. Deyalsingh said the National Racquet Centre at Tacarigua will now house the 21 people who returned from Guyana yesterday. First posted

Paula Lindo Thursday 14 May 2020 Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard. - The Ministry of Health’s legal department is compiling a file of private labs offering covid19 testing to be sent to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said this is because he has seen advertisements from private labs offering this service, but he is not aware that any private labs have yet been certified to do covid19 testing. He reminded the public and the lab owners that even when private labs are certified, there will be a $50,000 fine and six month’s imprisonment for the lab owner/operator and the person being tested if the results of the test are not forwarded to the CMO and the RHA responsible for the area where the person resides or works.

Paula Lindo Thursday 14 May 2020 - The covid19 crisis has affected economies worldwide, leaving people without work in many cases due to stay-at-home measures, lockdowns and other measures to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. Credit unions in the Caribbean have put several responses in place to cater to the needs of their members. During a webinar hosted by the Cipriani College of Labour and Co-operative Studies, heads of various credit union organisations outlined the operational responses that they and their members had put in place. Many of them were the same, including finding ways for their workers to telecommute, determining how annual general meetings (AGMs) would take place, as this was when dividends were paid out, and lobbying governments to make sure that credit unions were seen as essential services.

Paula Lindo Wednesday 13 May 2020 Derek Walcott courtesy the Walcott Estate. - Danielle Devaux The shortlist for the first Derek Walcott Prize has been announced. The prize will be awarded annually to the author of a full-length book of poems published in 2019 by a living poet who is not a US citizen. The shortlist consists of: • Curl by TO Bobe • Girlhood by Julia Copus • Crow Gulch by Douglas Walbourne-Gough • A Little Body Are Many Parts by Legna Rodriguez Iglesias • The Hammer and other poems by Adelaide Ivanova…

Paula Lindo Wednesday 13 May 2020 Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh wears what he later described as a "construction N95 mask" while visiting a Marios Pizza restaurant on Independence Square, Port of Spain, on Tuesday. - JEFF K MAYERS There has been confusion surrounding the types of N95 masks. The term N95 mask is used interchangeably to mean surgical mask, surgical N95 respirator and industrial N95 respirator. During Wednesday's press conference, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said the mask he wore during his walkabout in downtown Port of Spainn on Tuesday was a "construction N95 mask."

Paula Lindo Wednesday 13 May 2020 MP for Chaguanas East Fazal Karim. - The Chaguanas East Constituency office will be opening its IT centre on Monroe Road by appointment only for children to attend online classes. MP Fazal Karim made the announcement on May 8 on the constituency Facebook page. He said the measure was put in place because he was aware that many families in his constituency did not own computers nor had internet access, making it impossible for their children to continue their schooling online. Karim said the necessary permissions had been arranged and social distancing and sanitisation procedures had been put in place for children’s and staff’s safety.

Paula Lindo Wednesday 13 May 2020 Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh. - ANGELO MARCELLE State quarantine will be mandatory for anyone re-entering the country, regardless of whether they have gone through quarantine in the country they are coming from. Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said this is in accordance with quarantine protocols set out by the CMO. He said it is policy that the health ministry must have assurance that returnees have been properly quarantined in TT, as the ministry has no idea of the circumstances of their quarantine in any other country.

Paula Lindo Wednesday 13 May 2020 Dr Carissa Etienne The Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO) and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) will be working together to shape a new governance model that caters to economic growth and social protection in the wake of the covid19 virus. Resilient health systems and universal health coverage were viewed as key elements of the new model. PAHO director Dr Carissa F Etienne said the pandemic has forced the region to address three emergencies simultaneously: health, social and economic. She said a joint approach was needed to successfully contain the virus.

Paula Lindo Wednesday 13 May 2020 Terrence Deyalsingh - Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said he made the decision as minister to postpone elective surgeries until now. He announced that elective surgeries have been restarted on a phased basis, and waiting patients will be contacted. Responding to a letter to the editor in a daily newspaper at a Ministry of Health virtual presser on Wednesday morning, Deyalsingh refuted claims by a “well-known antagonist” that the CEO of the Southwest Regional Health Authority had stopped elective surgeries. He said it was unfortunate that the individual continued to peddle their version of untruth.

Paula Lindo Wednesday 13 May 2020 Terrence Deyalsingh - Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said anyone allowed to come into the country at this time will be required to undergo quarantine by the state. He said this is because the health ministry cannot be sure of the conditions that people would have been in before returning to TT, and the ministry is not prepared to take their word for it. He said the quarantine is to ensure the health and safety of the returning people, their families and the population. Currently, there are 14 people in quarantine at Cascadia, the 12 nurses from Cuba and two returning citizens. These two citizens returned to the country from the Bahamas and the USA on Monday by private jet. First posted

Paula Lindo Wednesday 13 May 2020 Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh - The Scarborough General Hospital has received machines and test kits to enable testing for covid19 in Tobago. Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said training and validation are currently taking place and testing can begin from next week. He said the machine, called a gene expert machine, is not a high-throughput machine like the ones at the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) and the Trinidad Public Health Laboratory. He said the machine can only do three tests per hour, and so is suitable for emergency use in Tobago if there is concern about a patient.

Paula Lindo Wednesday 13 May 2020 Colm Imbert - PAULA LINDO AND NARISSA FRASER Finance Minister Colm Imbert said government is projecting a total expenditure of $6 billion on covid19 relief and other needs between now and September. He said $934 million had been spent to date on covid19 relief. He broke down spending by various ministries and departments, with projected expenditure up to September 2020. Imbert said a figure for the health ministry could not yet be determined, especially if there was an increase in cases, or if students allowed to come home from university had to be quarantined.

Paula Lindo Tuesday 12 May 2020 Finance Minister Colm Imbert - Finance Minister Colm Imbert said government will be providing support to the micro/small/medium-enterprise sector through a $300 million loan programme. He said government will subsidise all the interest and part of the collateral as well on these loans which will be provided through state bank First Citizens Bank, so that the interest rate can be controlled. He said micro-enterprises will also be given additional support in terms of grants, as it is understood that they are less able to stand the shocks of these times. Imbert said the loans will be for payroll support and he will give further details next week. First posted

Paula Lindo Sunday 17 May 2020 Amanda Choo Quan - “Why was post-racial nationhood held up as an ideal? Why was it deemed necessary for us to disconnect ourselves from our respective motherlands to move past colonialism? Why do some people prefer to see ourselves as raceless? How is this any different from what happens in the USA, where immigrants are forced to assimilate, to drop their cultures, accents, defining factors, individual struggles, and accept the American Dream? These are some of the questions explored in writer Amanda Choo Quan’s It Starts with a Shatter, an extract from her work-in-progress An Emotional History of the West Indies.

Paula Lindo Tuesday 12 May 2020 Colm Imbert - Finance Minister Colm Imbert says government is projecting a total expenditure of $6 billion on covid19 relief and other needs between now and September. He said that as of Tuesday, $934 million has already been spent on dealing with the pandemic. He said the Ministry of Social Development and Family Services has already spent $98.1 million on various social support programmes, with a projected expenditure of $400 million. He said $10 million has been given to religious bodies, with a projected expenditure for this of $30 million.

Paula Lindo Tuesday 12 May 2020 Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh - ANGELO_MARCELLE Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said if people are responsible over the next two weeks, it will be possible to crunch phases two to six of the reopening measures into a shorter time period. He said if people were not willing to follow the public health regulations, this could lead to a reversal. He said he had been sent photos of people congregating at doubles stands without masks and not physically distancing, and said these failures to follow the rules could slingshot the country back to last week.

Paula Lindo Monday 11 May 2020 CMO Dr Roshan Parasram - CMO Dr Roshan Parasram said contact tracing for covid19 cases 115 and 116 has been concluded in terms of primary, secondary and tertiary contacts. He said the ministry will be looking out for hidden contacts from case 116 over the coming week. He said it has been three weeks since case 115 presented, so any infections resulting from this case would have been caught if they existed. Parasram said the patient currently at Couva is not the same patient who was in the high-dependency unit last week.

Paula Lindo Monday 11 May 2020 Minister of Health Terrance Deyalsingh. PHOTO BY AZLAN MOHAMMED HEALTH Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said the relaxing of anti-covid19 restrictions, which begins today, is a cause of nervousness for the ministry. He said the implementation of the measures in phase one is part of a well-thought-out plan based on the advice of health officials and the mistakes of other countries which tried to ease restrictions too quickly. He said the ministry expects that any new cases will begin to show up by the weekend. These will be the result of community spread and cannot be blamed on returning residents or importation, as the country's borders remain closed.

Paula Lindo Saturday 9 May 2020 Dr Keith Rowley - The TT Council of Evangelical Churches (TTCEC) is thanking those who have come together to fight against the covid19 virus. In a release, the council thanked the Prime Minister for steering the country through troubled waters despite having his own personal storms to navigate. It thanked the health minister for demonstrating compassion and concern for every citizen, and the CMO for maintaining calm and providing daunting clinical information. The council thanked frontline workers from the ministries of national security and health, doctors, nurses, police officers, defence force and coast guard personnel, supermarket employees and those working at the utility companies.

Paula Lindo Friday 8 May 2020 Nichola Harvey-Mitchell, new Director of the Children's Authority. PHOTO COURTESY CHILDREN'S AUTHORITY The Children’s Authority is encouraging parents and guardians to monitor their child’s emotional health, following the reported death of a 14-year-old girl, allegedly by suicide. In a release, the authority said parents should stay attuned to their child’s emotional state as well as their changing behaviours, since children communicate using emotions and/or behaviours. It said once parents recognise a change in their mood or behaviour or if they appear to be in emotional or psychological distress, they should speak to the child and allow them the space to speak about how they feel.

Paula Lindo Wednesday 6 May 2020 Dr Hazel Othello - Director of mental health Dr Hazel Othello has said a technical working group has been set up to look at providing mental health and psycho-social (MHPSS) support for those affected by the covid19 pandemic. Mental health and psycho-social support is a term used by the UN inter-agency standing committee to describe any type of support that aims to protect and promote psycho-social well-being and/or treat mental health conditions. The group is composed of health ministry personnel and stakeholders from NGOs, local professional organisations, and other mental stakeholders, and is chaired by Othello.

Paula Lindo Wednesday 6 May 2020 Dr Hazel Othello - Director of Mental Health Dr Hazel Othello said a technical working group has been set up to look at providing mental health and psycho-social support for those affected by the covid19 pandemic. She said the group is made up of health ministry personnel and stakeholders from NGOs, the private healthcare system, and others, and is chaired by her. The group will meet weekly for May and June and bi-weekly thereafter for as long as required. She said the stakeholders contributed to the development of a national covid19 mental health and psycho-social support response plan.

Paula Lindo Wednesday 6 May 2020 Dr Hazel Othello - Director of Mental Health Dr Hazel Othello said people will have to celebrate Mother’s Day virtually. She said in the age of covid19, certain customs such as taking mothers out to restaurants to celebrate the day cannot be followed. People will have to celebrate their mothers virtually. She suggested people make a telephone call to express their love and appreciation, or if they have access to video communication, they can have a more visual experience. First posted

Paula Lindo Tuesday 5 May 2020 Keisha Prevatt-Gomez - Keisha Prevatt-Gomez works at the Couva and Caura hospital quarantine facilities. “I feel as though we are standing at the gates and literally protecting the country," she says. "I feel a sense of purpose and responsibility towards the rest of TT. I’m making my own sacrifices because of how important it is.” She is an infection, prevention and control (IPC) nurse with the North Central Regional Health Authority. Prevatt-Gomez’s main role is to ensure that all staff dealing with covid19 patients are wearing their personal protective equipment (PPE) properly.

Paula Lindo Tuesday 5 May 2020 Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram. - Vidya Thurab CMO Dr Roshan Parasram has predicted a mix of testing and quarantine for people entering TT when the country's borders are re-opened. He said the opening of the borders would have to be done on a phased basis and measures would have to be put in place to safeguard against coved19 re-entering TT. He was speaking at virtual presser hosted by the Ministry of Health at 10 am on Monday morning. He said phases of re-opening might include nationals vs non-nationals, regions and countries, depending on the level of covid19 in those particular territories, adding that it was likely that everyone coming through our borders would be asked to self-quarantine if the covid19 levels did not drop substantially in different countries.

Paula Lindo Tuesday 5 May 2020 WITH the covid19 pandemic set to stretch into the middle and end of this year, health ministry chief technical co-ordinator for disaster preparedness Patti-Ann Williams says TT's health care system – already coping with the pandemic – is set to face several further potential challenges with the hurricane season fast approaching. Speaking at the ministry's daily covid19 virtual press briefing on Monday, she said there is a forecast of eight hurricanes this rainy season with four possibly being Category Three or higher.

Paula Lindo Monday 4 May 2020 Chief medical officer, Dr Roshan Parasram Photo: Angelo Marcelle CMO Dr Roshan Parasram said whenever borders are reopened, this will have to be done on a phased basis, and measures will have to be put in place to safeguard against covid19 re-entering the country. He said phases of reopening may include nationals vs non-nationals, regions and countries, depending on the level of covid19 in those particular territories. He said it is likely that everyone coming through TT's borders will be asked to self-quarantine if the covid19 levels don’t drop substantially before TT opens the borders to different countries.

Paula Lindo Monday 4 May 2020 File photo - CMO Dr Roshan Parasram said community testing is taking place on people who present with flu-like symptoms at health centres, emergency departments and in the community in the normal way. He said the numbers of people coming into the healthcare system with possible symptoms has dropped drastically in the last two weeks. He said the ministry is sampling people who enter the healthcare system presenting with a cough or cold or fever. Deyalsingh said only 67 people presented with viral illnesses in the last week, which is fewer than ten people per day.

Paula Lindo Monday 4 May 2020 Image courtesy CDC The Ministry of Health’s chief technical co-ordinator of disaster preparedness, Patti-Ann Williams, said TT faces several potential challenges with the impending rainy and hurricane season during the covid19 pandemic. She said the hurricane season is forecast to have eight hurricanes, with four of these being Category Three or higher. Williams said there are four major challenges which would be faced by the healthcare system in the event of a very heavy rainfall event or natural disaster while the country is also dealing with covid19.

Paula Lindo Sunday 3 May 2020 Richard Georges - The winner of the 2020 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature is Trinidadian-born, British Virgin Islands-resident Richard Georges. His poetry collection Epiphaneia presents readers with the aftermath of catastrophic Hurricane Irma, which devastated the islands in 2017. In a media release, the Bocas Literary Festival said the book is the third book of poetry to win the most prestigious international annual award for Caribbean writing since it was established ten years ago. The prize comes with a US$10,000 award and will be presented to the winner during the Bocas Literary Festival, which has been rescheduled to September 18-20 because of the covid19 pandemic.

Paula Lindo Friday 1 May 2020 UWI's Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, Prof Terence Seemungal. - UWI UWI has been approached by the World Health Organization (WHO) to do "solidarity trials" as part of its contribution to the regional effort to deal with the covid19 pandemic. The protocols of these studies are being reviewed by the ethics committees of UWI and the Ministry of Health, which will decide if the studies will be done Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences Prof Terrence Seemungal said the trials will take place at the university’s campuses in TT, Jamaica, Barbados and the Bahamas.

Paula Lindo Friday 1 May 2020 Seventy citizens return on a Suriname Airways flight, after authorization was given. The group was taken to mandatory quarantine at UWI Penal/Debe Campus. Piarco International Airport, Golden Grove Road. Piarco. Seventy TT citizens who were stranded in Suriname returned home this morning and were quickly taken away under police escort to begin two weeks of mandatory quarantine. Their charter flight landed at Piarco Airport at 10.23 am. Photo: Roger Jacob The group was met by healthcare personnel and a fleet of PTSC buses. A convoy comprising a police escort, the returnees, in the PTSC buses, Defence Force personnel and a delegation from the Civilian Conservation Corps left the airport at 11.15 am.

Paula Lindo Thursday 30 April 2020 - BIG FIVE IMAGES Caribbean countries should ensure that people living with HIV have reliable access to treatment, healthcare and human rights-based social support services during the covid19 pandemic. The call is being made by the Joint UN Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP). In a release, the organisations said regular access to essential care and treatment for people living with HIV may be challenged at this time because of the burden of covid19 response on health facilities.

Paula Lindo Thursday 30 April 2020 File photo: A woman holding a child and a man, all wearing face masks, walk through Port of Spain. - Ayanna Kinsale STUDIES have shown that while young people and children are less likely to experience severe manifestations of covid19, they get a similar viral load to adults and can therefore spread the virus just as quickly as adults. Professor of molecular genetics and virology Dr Christine Carrington said it was therefore important to keep up with measures such as social distancing, hand hygiene, wearing masks and not touching faces.

Paula Lindo Thursday 30 April 2020 Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Roshan Parasram. CHIEF Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram says this country will have to adapt to a new normal to prepare for the phased lifting of restrictions put in place to slow the spread of the covid19 virus. Speaking at the daily virtual media briefing on Wednesday, he said people will have to prepare for the enhancement and continuation of the public health measures. He said they will have to create a paradigm shift in their behaviour to ensure the pandemic does not continue to spread.

Paula Lindo Wednesday 29 April 2020 Dr Roshan Parasram - The Health Ministry will make site visits to private labs this week as part of the labs’ application to the ministry for certification. CMO Dr Roshan Parasram said a team consisting of a medical lab technician and quality control specialists will visitthe labs. They will submit a report after each visit detailing the types of machines being used, what type of tests are being done, the type of staff that are operating their machines, and whether they have previously been accredited for other tests as a lab.

Paula Lindo Wednesday 29 April 2020 CMO Dr Roshan Parasram - CMO Dr Roshan Parasram has warned that Trinidadians and Tobagonians will have to adapt to "a new normal" to prepare for the phased lifting of restrictions put in place to slow the spread of the covid19 virus. Speaking at Monday’s media briefing, he said people will have to prepare for the enhancement and continuation of the public health measures. He said they will have to create a paradigm shift in their behaviour to ensure the pandemic does not continue to spread.

Paula Lindo Wednesday 29 April 2020 Dr Carissa Etienne Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO) director Dr Carissa Etienne has said lifting or softening containment measures for covid19 should be done with extreme caution, as doing this too soon could lead to a second wave of the virus. Etienne said decisions to lift social distancing should always be informed by the disease transmission patterns, covid19 testing, contact tracing capacity, the availability of hospital beds, and other objective criteria. She said surveillance must be strengthened to ensure adequate monitoring of these criteria. Social distancing needs to be accompanied by comprehensive social support measures, she said, to ensure that the most vulnerable can comply without severe risk to their livelihoods, which is extremely difficult in some countries.

Paula Lindo Tuesday 28 April 2020 Epidemiologist Dr Avery Hinds Epidemiologist Dr Avery Hinds said the number of respiratory illness-related deaths in the first four months of 2020 do not reflect an uncontrolled release of the covid19 virus into the population. He claimed that the last four months of 2019, showed a higher rate of deaths from respiratory illnesses than the first four months of 2020. At the daily Health Ministry virtual press conference on Monday, he said the ministry continues to monitor all deaths and opined that looking at the data in context, there is no increase in deaths that would be associated with prolonged circulation of the covid19 virus among the population, as has been alluded to.

Paula Lindo Tuesday 28 April 2020 KAMLA MASKED: Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, like other MPs and the House Speaker, wears her face mask during sitting of the House of Representatives on Monday in the Red House. PHOTO COURTESY OFFICE OF THE PARLIAMENT - OFFICE OF THE PARLIAMENT The Administration of Justice (Electronic Monitoring) (Amendment) Bill, 2020 has been passed in the Parliament. During Monday’s debate, Opposition MP Ganga Singh warned against the use of bill by the police to grab power during the covid19 pandemic. He said this had been seen in the use of roadblocks recently.