Basseterre, St. Kitts, January 14, 2021 (Ministry of Foreign Affairs): International students contribute over $21 billion annually to Canada’s economy and support vitality in its communities. As has been the case in many other places, COVID-19 has presented a myriad of challenges for its international students. Most notably, for many holders of a post-graduation work permit (PGWP), the pandemic’s disruption and uncertainty have jeopardized their chances of obtaining the work experience they need to apply for permanent residence.
As part of the Government of Canada’s efforts to support international students through this challenging time, the Ministry of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship of Canada has announced that former international students who hold or held a PGWP will have the opportunity to apply for an open work permit.
Foreign nationals in Canada affected by the pandemic with an expired or expiring PGWP will have a unique chance to apply for another open work permit. These will be valid for 18 months and will allow former international students to remain in Canada, continue to seek employment, and build their future there.
The Canadian government has made significant efforts to encourage international students to settle permanently in Canada, as they help create jobs and fill labour shortages. More than 58,000 graduates successfully applied to immigrate permanently in 2019, and their decisions to stay in Canada will help to address its stark demographic challenges.
As Canada confronts the pandemic’s second wave and charts a course for recovery, attracting skilled immigrants is a central part of its plan. This new policy will help more graduates fill pressing needs in areas like health care, technology and more.
]]>BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, August 11, 2020 (Press Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister) – The high level of business confidence that exists in St. Kitts and Nevis, even during this time of uncertainty brought on by the global COVID-19 pandemic, is being attributed to the excellent management of the Federation’s economy by the Team Unity administration over the last five years.
“Generally, the business confidence remains good. This is due largely to our excellent management of the economy prior to COVID-19 which saved lives and kept our citizens and residents safe,” Prime Minister Harris said when he updated the nation during his press conference today (August 11) at the NEMA Headquarters.
The prime minister added that foreign investors are showing good interest in doing more business here in St. Kitts and Nevis and his Government is “encouraging them to do so.”
It was revealed that between January to July of 2020, the number of business licences in St. Kitts and Nevis reached its highest level with 463 approvals, compared to 414 over the comparative period in 2019.
“This achievement is commendable given the dramatic fall in applications for businesses experienced in April 2020 directly attributable to the uncertainty and unpredictability brought on by COVID-19,” Dr. Harris said, while noting that July has been the best month with 101 approvals granted.
The honourable prime minister also used his remarks at the press conference to give special recognition to the entrepreneurial spirit of the Kittitian and Nevisian people for utilizing the opportunities available to them for new forms of income generation activities in the face of COVID-19.
“We see entities diversify into mask making and producing hand sanitizers right here in our islands. We saw innovation in entertainment at the lawns of Frigate Bay with drive-in movies now available on weekends. We commend the creativity and ingenuity of our people. We encourage those displaced as a result of COVID-19 to think through how they can apply their skills to new opportunities for self-employment. New providers of PCR testing are likely to emerge. This is important as we open our borders there will be increasing demand for COVID-19 tests. The delivery of quality lab services will help the efficiency and effectiveness of our response for tests as more visitors enter our beautiful Country,” Prime Minister Harris stated.
In March of this year, the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis introduced a comprehensive $120-million stimulus package to help cushion the economic fall-out as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
One aspect of the stimulus response was the injection of $5million into the FRESH Start programme to provide support to Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
]]>Basseterre, St. Kitts, August 5, 2020 (SKNIS): Ministry of Education has announced that Public Day-care Centres will be re-opening on Monday, August 10, 2020.
Early Childhood Development Unit Director Kimona Browne made the announcement in an interview with the Education Media Unit.
“We are now welcoming back the children who were at home for an extended period due to the COVID-19 Pandemic,” said Early Childhood Development Unit Director, Kimona Browne. “We realise that this has been challenging for the parents and guardians over the months, but the early childhood practitioners are all geared up towards assuming their responsibilities as early childhood service providers.”
Children returning now are those who were in the day care prior to closure. All new children to centres will attend on September, 07, 2020.
The Ministry has informed that children must be brought to the centres and collected by a responsible adult, and buses dropping off children and traffic warden taking children from buses are no longer allowed.
All staff, parents and guardians are required to observe several Covid-19 protocols for Early Childhood Centres.
Every child would be signed in and out of the regular register. Once a child or staff member has a temperature that is equal to or greater than 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or 38 degrees Celsius, neither child nor staff will be allowed to enter the building. A second temperature reading will be taken half-hour after the first reading to confirm whether there is a sustained elevated temperature.
Only a responsible adult can bring children to the centre. Children will not be allowed to drop off children at the centre.
Parents are no longer allowed inside the centres. They can only come to drop off or pick up their children.
All staff must wear a facemask upon entry and while inside the institution.
Children will not wear a facemask at any time.
The Old Road Day Care Centre will remain closed until further notice due to some maintenance work that has to be completed. Every effort is being made to ensure that this is done in the timeliest manner.
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Basseterre, St. Kitts, August 5, 2020 (ZIZ News): The final preparations were made at Camp Springfield for the closing ceremony of the St. Kitts Nevis Defence Force’s Basic Military Course #20 which was on the afternoon of the August 6th.
During the ceremony 33 recruits graduated, among them 9 are female.
The event began at 4pm and was be held under the patronage of Governor General His Excellency Sir S.W. Tapley Seaton GCMG, CVO, QC JP.
The agenda includes remarks by Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security, Osmond Petty, a feature address by Prime Minister Dr. The Hon. Timothy Harris and the presentation of certificates by the Prime Minister and the Governor General.
Due to Covid-19 protocols the ceremony this year will be slightly different as there will be no passing out parade.
]]>Basseterre, St. Kitts, August 6, 2020 (ZIZ News): Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Hazel Laws says as there has been an increase in rainfall, there has been an upsurge in mosquitoes, and persons can help to decrease the mosquito population that spreads diseases such as Dengue.
Dr. Laws made this statement during her Health Emergency Operation Center (HEOC) Situation Report at the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) Press Briefing on Wednesday
She said that as the nation is already facing the COVID-19 Pandemic, it is important to prevent a Dengue outbreak.
Dr. Laws said that the season with the highest incidences of Dengue has begun.
The Chief Medical Officer further informed that the mosquitoes that usually spread Dengue bite during the day and night. These mosquitos spread other diseases including Chikungunya and Zika Virus, she said.
Dr. Laws stated that persons need to protect babies and children by making sure they are properly attired. She gave other advice about preventing mosquitoes around the home.
She recommended that at least once per week, carefully emptying and scrubbing all containers that hold water. She noted other measures persons can take to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes.
Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Hazel Laws.
]]>Basseterre, St. Kitts, August 3, 2020 (ZIZ News): The University of the West Indies has launched a new crowdfunding campaign aimed at assisting students financially impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dubbed the UWI 2020 Global Giving Initiative the campaign encourages persons to give small contributions to the University through online donations.
A ceremony was held on Saturday at Government House to launch the initiative and present the 2020 Pelican Award.
Delivering brief remarks, President of the St. Kitts Nevis Alumni Association Craig Tuckett said under the impact of Covid-19 assistance for the students has become more important than before.
“It is in times like these that we all need, especially the alumni globally, to show our charity, Charity not so much to our alma mater alone but through our alma mater, giving and assisting the present student body to complete their studies and to also begin new studies during these extreme trying financial times, for to whom much is given, much is expected.”
Reflecting on the UWI’s performance history over the years Chancellor Robert Bermudez underscored the importance of alumni giving back to continue the university’s legacy of contribution to development around the world.
During the ceremony National Hero Sir Kennedy Simmonds presented the 2020 Pelican award to Miss Lorna Callendar for her contribution to education, journalism, public service and community and gender affairs.
Persons can donate online to the UWI Global Giving campaign at www.uwi.edu/giving.
]]>Basseterre, St. Kitts (Natta Memorial Scholarship Fund) – Four educational institutions will now be better equipped to identify and mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus among students, teachers and staff as a result of a donation of thermometers by the William Marcus Natta Memorial Scholarship Fund.
The Fund this week donated 10 non-contact thermometers to the Tucker-Clarke Primary School, Irishtown Primary School, Newtown Nursery and KeBabies Child Development Centre. As many schools prepare to kick off the new academic year, the safety of children, teachers and school staff is at the forefront of many parents and community concerns.
“Our Scholarship Fund recognises the complexities of having young children returning to schools during this ongoing pandemic,” noted Scholarship Fund Chair Dr Marcus L Natta. “We believe this small donation of forehead non-contact thermometers can be quite helpful in quickly screening the young students daily. Not only in relation to COVID-19 but medical professionals often attest that a high body temperature is usually a good indicator of various illnesses.”
In receiving the thermometers, school officials expressed their profound thanks to Dr Natta and the Fund’s Board of Trustees for being proactive and generous with the much-needed devices. Principal of the Irish Town Primary School Mrs Avonelle Carey-Fraites said “I was only recently discussing the need for these medical devices as part of our preparations to reopen our school and now we have received this wonderful surprise that is most welcomed and greatly appreciated. Thank you Dr Natta and the Natta Scholarship Fund.”
The William Marcus Natta Memorial Scholarship Fund, which celebrated its tenth anniversary in April this year, has been an ardent supporter of these early learning schools throughout the years. According to Dr Natta, the Scholarship Fund focuses on primary education because it aims to foster early love for learning and believes that the earlier a child receives sound schooling, the better prepared that child becomes for the real world.
The founding committee pioneered the Scholarship Fund at Tucker-Clarke Primary School in 2010 and extended the scholarship to students of the Irishtown Primary School in 2016. Over the past ten years, the Scholarship Fund has given assistance, totalling more than EC$15,000 and has donated over 10,000 educational items to the schools.
]]>NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS July 30, 2020 (Nevis Island Administration) – The Nevis Island Administration (NIA) is working closely with stakeholders of public and private sector early childhood development centres, to address concerns of reduced capacity at facilities in light of physical distancing requirements, brought on by COVID-19.
Speaking at his monthly press conference on July 30, 2020, Hon. Mark Brantley, Premier and Minister of Education, said his government is aware of the concern, especially by the private service providers, that new social distancing parameters will mean they can accommodate fewer children when they re-open.
This, he acknowledged, would affect their ability to generate income.
“We are well aware of the concerns. I am particularly concerned about the private sector early childhood centres, because while the government has the ability to manoeuvre in a particular way, they don’t.
“Certainly with the social distancing requirements now, the space that you had before you no longer have available to you. Because they charge per child, per month as the case may be, if suddenly they are told that they had 30 children and now they can only have 15, then their revenue stream is cut significantly, their ability to stay open is impacted.
“And so I propose to meet with them and see what we can do to assist them and see whether or not we have any space available to assist them, because they are providing a critical service, but we recognize that the new requirements would generate some hardship for them,” he said.
The premier said similarly, government-run daycare centres and preschools would be affected by the Ministry of Education’s ECD COVID-19 Compliance and Enforcement Checklist, which mandates indoor physical distancing requirements of 31 square feet per child for preschoolers and 40 square feet for infants.
He informed that the ministry’s technical team has looked at the various government ECD facilities and confirmed that some could accommodate the same number of children as they did previously, differently configured. Some can hold a few more because they were not fully utilised, however, the majority will have to hold less.
Premier Brantley said the ministry is looking for additional space to accommodate any spillover of enrollees.
Early childhood development centres have been given the green light to proceed with re-opening, once they meet the required standards outlined in the COVID-19 Compliance and Enforcement Checklist.
]]>2Basseterre, St. Kitts, July 30, 2020 (SKNIS): Sixteen of the seventeen confirmed COVID-19 cases have recovered, revealed Chief Medical Officer Dr. Hazel Laws during the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) Press Briefing on July 29, 2020.
Dr. Laws said that the one active case “continues to do well and is stable, recovering nicely.”
To date, the federation has tested over 1,006 persons, said Dr. Laws.
“To date we have tested all those persons who were suspected of having COVID-19 along with their contacts,” she said.
At present there are 50 persons quarantined at government designated facilities and one person is in isolation.
In the Caribbean, as of July 27, 2020, there are now 100,348 confirmed cases with 44,298 recoveries. The death toll is 1,705.
“This is good news for the Caribbean region because if you were to calculate the fatality rate within the Caribbean region it is at about 1.7 and that is a little lower than the global or international rate. I hope that this trend continues,” said Dr. Laws.
CARPHA’s Situation Report dated July 27, 2020, stated that the risk of further cases occurring in the Caribbean remains very high.
]]>Nassau, Bahamas July 28, 2020 (Eye WitnessNews): The Bahamas government will impose an additional two weekend lockdowns to mitigate the rise in COVID-19 cases.
The Office of the prime minister in a statement issued on Tuesday underscored these measures are being implemented to protect the lives and health of Bahamians and residents.
The government will undertake a careful review of the health data after these two lockdown periods, according to the statement.
It stated the decision was made after consultation with local health officials and a review of the response of other jurisdictions due to the current global rise in cases.
The lockdown this coming holiday weekend begins at 7 pm on Friday, July 31 to 5am on Tuesday, August 4 for all islands of The Bahamas, excluding Grand Bahama.
Grand Bahama is under a complete lockdown until August 7.
Food stores, gas stations, pharmacies and water depots will be permitted to operate on Saturday (August 1) for the general public from 7am to 6pm.
According to the statement, commercial and social activity may resume as outlined in the Emergency Powers (COVID-19 Pandemic) (No. 3) Order, 2020 on Tuesday, August 4 at 5 am.
The same restrictions will apply the following weekend lockdown on August 7 to August 10.
]]>NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS July 27, 2020 (Nevis Island Administration)– Hon. Mark Brantley, Premier of Nevis and Minister of Tourism, says learning to function in a new normal is critical for the island’s tourism industry, the island’s main economic driver.
Mr. Brantley was delivering remarks on July 27, 2020, at the start of training on COVID -19, to sensitize tourism sector workers on Nevis. The sessions are being hosted by the Ministry of Tourism in collaboration with the Nevis Tourism Authority (NTA) and the Ministry of Health, in preparation for the reopening of the Federation’s borders.
“COVID however, is not just a health crisis; COVID also presents an economic crisis and as a consequence we now have to fashion ideas and approaches that will allow Nevis to reopen, and allow the people of Nevis once again to earn…Therefore, it is important that we now come up with approaches that will allow the island of Nevis to once again get back to work.
“It is important that those of you who are on the frontlines, that you have the opportunity to hear from the experts what is expected of you, what the new protocols are going to look like and what our new normal is going to be on the island of Nevis,” he said.
The Tourism Minister, who is also the Minister of Finance in the Nevis Island Administration, stated that the island’s economy has suffered as a result of COVID-19.
“We recognize that it has been very difficult. It has been difficult for us. It has been difficult for you who have obviously suffered and continue to suffer and difficult for the island and difficult even for the government because absent the tourism industry, absent the hotels being open, we ourselves as a government have not been able to earn because we are not getting taxes that we would ordinarily get from the consumption that tourists bring, and so all of us are in this together,” he said.
Over the next two weeks, more than 1,000 employees in the tourism sector will be sensitised to the COVID-19 pandemic situation as mandated by the COVID-19 Task Force.
Mr. Brantley told the participants that the training sessions are designed to equip then with the necessary tools they would need on return to their various places of work.
“The idea is that you know what to expect because we have to keep each other safe….We have to do all that we can to ensure that our people remain safe but at the same time we have now to do what we can to ensure that our people can earn, and that our people can get back to work so that they can take care of their responsibilities, and that is the balance we are trying to strike.
“We want to balance health and wellness and safety of our people and we want to balance the ability of the same people to go out and earn a living,” he said.
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St. Kitts and Nevis is one of nine OECS member states that will receive equipment for the fight against Covid through a donation from Digicel.
The donation forms part of the OECS collective response to Covid 19 and through Digicel’s involvement, approximately 60, 000 masks were sourced and will be distributed to nine of the OECS member states based on population size.
Communications specialist with the OECS Commission Alisha Ally said the donation came about following the commission’s engagement of the region’s private sector in the fight against covid-19.
“The OECS has a very integrated private sector strategy we sounded a clarion call across the region to engage our private sector partners and Digicel was one of the first companies to respond. Nine member states are going to benefit from the mask donation; it’s about 60 thousand masks that will be given to our member states and we will be shipping those very shortly.”
Chief Executive Officer of Digicel St. Lucia Siobhan (pronounced shevaughn) James Alexander presented the masks To Jenny Daniel of St. Lucia’s Ministry of Health and Wellness in a virtual ceremony on Monday.
“ On behalf of Digicel it is indeed our pleasure to have partnered with the oecs as part of our covid response.over the past few months we have been working with the governments across the region in terms of their priorities in terms of health and education. Coming together with the OECS to realise that we need a collaboration and a collective response and ppe’s being one of the things that frontline workers needed the most, we decided that we would contribute to that and we do hope that this goes a long way within the nine countries and we remain committed in our response and in working together with the governments.”
The countries to receive the PPE are the British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Montserrat, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada.
]]>Basseterre, St. Kitts, July 23, 2020 (ZIZ News): Diabetes and COVID19 will be the topic of discussion when the St. Kitts Diabetes Association resumes its quarterly meeting on July 26th at 3pm.
Public Relations Officer for the St. Kitts Diabetes Association Dr. Reginald O’Loughlin told ZIZ news the topic comes at a time when the focus has moved away from some of the existing conditions like diabetes and have been geared toward preparing for covid19.
He said persons must recognise that diabetes still exists and will continue to exist in the aftermath of COVID19.
“I think some people have dropped the ball in relation to diabetes because the focus is so much on coronavirus. Some people have forgotten the importance of doing your regular exercise, and basically complying with the recommendations of the St. Kitts Diabetes Association abbreviated T.E.E.M—regular testing, exercise, eating right and medication in a disciplined fashion. So we need to underline that particular phenomenon to remember those things and once you’re a diabetic you are at somewhat higher risk, based upon the data available, you are at higher risk for having more deleterious consequences from the coronavirus situation.”
He said the meeting will take the form of a panel discussion.
He said the hosting of the meeting will be consistent with stipulated regulations for Covid19.
Transportation for the meeting of the St. Kitts Diabetes Association will be provided by GT109 starting in Old Road at 2pm via Sandy Point and St. Pauls then via Cayon into Basseterre, stopping at each health center across the island.
]]>Basseterre, St. Kitts, July 22, 2020 (SKNIS): The Ministry of Tourism has again embarked on a number of mandatory training exercises with bars, restaurants and all other businesses in the sector in St. Kitts in order to prepare them to provide services that are different in the COVID-19 environment, says Minister of Tourism, the Honourable Lindsay Grant, during the Leadership Matters Virtual Forum on July 21.
All stakeholders are required to attend the training, which started on July 22, said Minister Grant, noting that they will not be allowed to open if they do not attend and receive certification at the end.
“The businesses, the restaurants, the bars, who do not avail themselves of the training facilities in conjunction with NEOC and the tourism stakeholders will not be allowed to open because after the training exercises you are going to get a certification and the bars and the restaurants that don’t have those certifications will not be allowed to open,” he said.
Minister Grant said that the health and wellbeing of the patrons are of paramount importance.
Week one of the training runs from July 22 to 24, 2020 for bars and restaurants. Week two will run from July 27 to 31, 2020 for the taxi and tour bus operators and accommodations. The training will continue until August 27, 2020.
The Ministry of Tourism will introduce a travel approved seal. Its objective is to identify businesses and operators that meet the minimum health standards and safety protocols.
“We need to establish a minimum standard to improve the visitor confidence and that we can use as a marketing tool and can be leveraged in the market place as a value added item improving the destination marketability,” he said.
]]>Basseterre, St. Kitts, July 22, 2020 (SKNIS): The St. Kitts-Nevis Robotics Team is competing in the 2020 First Global Challenge – Connecting Communities, which runs from July 01 to September 25 virtually due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
“The COVID-19 situation would have changed the whole dynamic of us travelling so we are online now, the robotics competition is online. The challenge surrounds social challenges where they must create videos and talk about the experience during the quarantine. They must create robots that do few things which means that few of them would have to meet under the COVID-19 protocols,” said Dr. Ricardo Neil, Founder and Chairman of the St. Kitts-Nevis Robotics Association (SKNRA).
Dr. Neil said that the group meets to develop mini bots unlike 2019 where they had to build a huge robot to travel with to Dubai.
St. Kitts and Nevis is ranked in the top 100 out of 180 participating countries.
“Currently, we are in the top 100 in terms of our ranking. We are ranked at 16 in the world based on the challenges that they would have completed so far. We are waiting to see how things will go… and we have about 180 countries presently involved in the online challenges,” he said.
The first challenge, entitled Quarantine Time, ran from July 01-03. Challenge #2 is dubbed Technical Challenge 1 and runs from July 04-20, while Challenge #3 – Dream Big ran from July 07-09 and Challenge #4 Mic Drop took place from July 11-13. Challenge #5 Got Talent was from July 14-16, Challenge #6 Volunteer Shout out, July 18-20 and Challenge #7 Project Impact will run from July 22- August 07.
He said that “most of the students on the team would have been exposed to online learning here in St. Kitts and Nevis. So, as a result of that, they are easily adapting to the same process with the competition.”
According to https://first.global/cc/, First Global releases weekly challenges via social media, of which there are two types— Social Media Challenges that require submitting content in response to various prompts, as well as Technical Challenges. Although official teams are the only ones eligible to earn points, the challenges are open to everyone.
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