Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 19, 2021 (SKNIS): Carlene Henry-Morton, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, Transport, and Ports, has congratulated the St. Kitts Department of Meteorological Services for 50 years of service to the island’s population and encouraged the staff to maintain a spirit of excellence when performing their duties.
Mrs. Henry-Morton extended the commendation on Sunday, April 18, 2021, as she worshiped with the department’s staff at the Antioch Baptist Church at Lime Kiln Commercial Development.
Her comments were made on behalf of the Minister of Ports, the Honourable Lindsay Grant, who was unable to attend the service to deliver remarks.
The Met Office, as it is commonly called, monitors and provides weather forecasts. It also handles air traffic control for the R. L. Bradshaw International Airport.
The permanent secretary said that the services provided by the Met Office are particularly important given the changing global environmental conditions.
“The need for accuracy still remains paramount and the staff at the Meteorological Services strives to deliver reliable and dependable results recognizing the implications to safety in aviation and the potential impact on lives and livelihoods from accurate weather information,” she stated.
Mrs. Henry-Morton added that the upcoming Atlantic Hurricane Season, which forecasters predict will be above normal, requires a high level of commitment from the Met Office staff.
“To this end, the staff readily accepts the challenge to provide timely updates on weather conditions so that as a nation we can make informed decisions to protect lives and livelihoods. For this, we must say a hearty thank you for their dedication and selfless service in the past and present, and which I am confident will continue well into the future,” she expressed.
The theme for this year’s celebration is “Service with Accuracy and Reliability – St. Kitts Meteorological Services at 50.”
]]>Basseterre, St. Kitts, December 11, 2020 (SKNIS): The COVID-19 quarantine system in St. Kitts and Nevis has been very effective in ensuring that inbound travellers are separated from the local population to protect against the spread of the novel coronavirus. This is essential since all 27 cases of the COVID-19 were imported.
At the December 09, 2020, National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) COVID-19 Weekly Briefing Dr. Hazel Laws, Chief Medical Officer, reiterated that all arriving passengers are placed in quarantine at a government-designated facility or a COVID-19 certified hotel. There is also an option for persons to quarantine at home.
The government-designated facilities at the OTI in St. Kitts and Pot Works in Nevis are monitored by local law enforcement. Individuals staying at certified hotels are required to wear wrist bands that indicate how long they have been in quarantine. Members of the COVID-19 Compliance Task Force and hotel security enforce the quarantine rules there. Meanwhile, persons quarantined at home pay for 24/7 private security, who ensure that there are no breaches.
“So far between October 31st and present, the system has been working and we have not had any instance whereby an individual has escaped quarantine,” Dr. Laws stated, referring to the period when the borders were reopened.
She added that the extensive measures placed to protect persons along the corridor of containment have also been very successful to date.
The corridor of containment refers to the areas or services that inbound travellers must access when they arrive on the island on the way to the quarantine site. These are the R. L. Bradshaw International Airport, certified COVID-19 taxi service, and finally the appropriate quarantine site.
Persons are not allowed to deviate from the corridor of containment or breach the conditions of quarantine. If a traveller is confirmed with COVID-19, they are immediately placed in isolation.
]]>Basseterre, St. Kitts, December 10, 2020 (SKNIS): Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Hazel Laws, said that the robust protocols instituted to protect against the community spread of COVID-19 have proven quite successful for St. Kitts and Nevis.
The twin-island Federation has recorded seven imported cases of COVID-19 since the borders reopened to regional and international traffic on October 31, 2020. However, there has been no evidence of any local person contracting the disease after interacting with the passengers.
“Once we would have identified a case, we do contact tracing,” CMO Laws said during the December 09, 2020 edition of the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) Weekly COVID-19 Briefing. “So we evaluate all of the individuals who would have come into contact with that individual along the corridor of containment.”
Personnel along the corridor of containment include members of the health screening unit, Immigration Department, and Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise Department at the R. L. Bradshaw International Airport. Certified taxi drivers who transport the travellers to their respective sites of quarantine, as well as the frontline workers at the various facilities, are also included in the health and safety corridor.
“At present, we are evaluating video footage of the individuals interacting with the front desk staff, or the customs officer or the immigration officer ensuring that protocols were followed. If perchance, we realize that there is a breach in the protocols [then] that frontline worker is tested and placed into quarantine,” Dr. Laws stated.
The chief medical officer noted that testing of frontline workers, was done in some cases, and all of the results returned negative.
She added that this was important as it provides health authorities with “objective evidence that our protocols are robust and are working.”
]]>Basseterre, St. Kitts, October 28, 2020 (SKNIS): The guidelines for returning nationals and visitors to St. Kitts and Nevis have been well-publicized and include having a negative COVID-19 RT-PCR test result, 72 hours before the departure date.
The same testing requirement is necessary for all transiting passengers, Chief Immigration Officer Merclyn Hughes said on Tuesday, October 27, 2020.
“In-Transit passengers, from within or outside of the [CARICOM Travel] Bubble without evidence of a valid negative COVID-19 RT-PCR test will be denied entry into St. Kitts-Nevis. The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis reserves the right to refuse any person who does not have a valid test result,” Ms. Hughes stated.
The Chief Immigration Officer shared the information while appearing on the weekly programme Leadership Matters – A Virtual Forum Series.
Ms. Hughes noted that face masks must be worn at all times by the transiting passengers at all ports of entry. They must also undergo a medical assessment which may include a medical check and interview by port health officials.
St. Kitts and Nevis will reopen its borders to regional and international travellers on October 31, 2020. The ports of entry that will be officially opened are the R. L. Bradshaw International Airport, Basseterre Sea Port, Christophe Harbour Marina, and Marina Telca in St. Kitts. The ports in Nevis that will reopen are the V. W. Amory International Airport and the Charlestown Sea Port.
Ms. Hughes added that the situation remains very fluid due to the many unknowns relating to the novel coronavirus. The Chief Immigration Officer encouraged all persons travelling to St. Kitts and Nevis to stay updated on local developments by regularly visiting www.covid19.gov.kn.
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