News Briefs

Stella Gregory Award for Bisasor-McKenzie

Chief Medical Officer Dr Jacquiline Bisasor-McKenzie has been named 2020 recipient of the Stella Gregory Award by the Kingston chapter of the Soroptimist International Club of Jamaica.

The award recognises Bisasor-McKenzie’s “outstanding leadership in the management of the coronavirus pandemic now affecting Jamaica”, a statement by the organisation said.

The award will be presented on Saturday, March 6, 2021, just before International Women’s Day.

Bisasor-McKenzie, who has been chief medical officer since 2018, heads the technical team for the management of the COVID-19 pandemic at the Ministry of Health and Wellness.

Soroptimist International is a global volunteer movement for women in business, management, and the professions, who work together to transform the lives of women and girls.

Teen killed in Manchester crash

A teenager died on Sunday afternoon after he was hit from his motorcycle and dragged approximately 30 metres along Winston Jones Highway in the vicinty of Battersea, Manchester.

The deceased has been dentified as 19-year-old Tajay Millard of Battersea.

According to eyewitnesses, Millard was travelling along Winston Jones Highway towards Mandeville when a Toyota Probox taxi travelling in the same direction overtook a line of traffic.

Millard, who was alleged to have been turning off the main road, was knocked over by the vehicle.

He was rushed to Mandeville Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

An infuriated man on the scene who identified himself as Millard’s grandfather said he was determined to get justice for his relative.

Commanding officer of the Manchester police, Superintendent Gary Francis, encouraged road users to exercise caution on the busy highway.

“We’ll be having police out here to ensure that the speed limit is obeyed ... ,” Francis said.

New York backtracks on school closures

NEW YORK (AP):

New York City will reopen its school system to in-person learning and increase the number of days a week many children attend class even as the coronavirus pandemic intensifies in the city, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Sunday.

The announcement marks a major policy reversal for the nation’s largest school system, less than two weeks after de Blasio announced that schools were shutting down because of a rising number of COVID-19 cases in the city.

Some elementary schools and pre-kindergarten programmes will resume classes on December 7, a week from Monday, the mayor said. Others will take longer to reopen their doors.

School programmes serving special-needs students at all grade levels will open to in-person learning starting December 10, de Blasio said.

The plan for reopening middle and high schools is still being developed, de Blasio said.