REGIONAL NEWS IN BRIEF

CXC results to be released in October

CMC – The Barbados-based Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) says it will be releasing in October the results of the examinations held in June and July this year.

“This year, the Caribbean Examinations Council, like many other institutions, has had to modify its strategy for examinations due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Following consultation with regional governments and other key stakeholders from across the region, it was agreed in May 2021 to delay the sitting of the regional examinations by a further two weeks to allow more time for candidates to prepare for their exams,” CXC said in a statement, adding that the exams commenced on June 28 and were completed on July 30.

CXC, which was established in 1972 under an agreement by the participating governments in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), said that it wanted to remind stakeholders “that results for the June/July 2021 examinations will be released in early to mid-October.

“CXC is working assiduously to minimise the impact of the delays occasioned by the disruption of COVID-19 protocols on the logistical operations associated with the marking, grading and release of examinations results,” it added.

It said that the release of the results will be a three-tiered approach, with the first to the ministries of education, the second through a joint meeting with the ministries of education, and the third to be released to candidates on or before October 15 this year.

CXC said in the case of St Vincent and the Grenadines, which was impacted by a volcanic eruption earlier this year, there will be a two-tiered approach regarding the release of the results.

It said this would involve the results being released to that country’s education ministry, followed by release to candidates on or before October 20.

“The CXC team is in contact with regional and international higher education institutions to communicate this timing to minimise the possibility of students being disadvantaged during the matriculation process,” the regional examination body added.

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Two new tropical depressions forecast to develop soon as NHC tracks three systems

This weekend marks the peak of the busiest period of the hurricane season as the National Hurricane Center (NHC) tracks three tropical systems in the Atlantic basin.

A tropical wave in the western Caribbean – the birthplace of several other systems that have impacted the Gulf Coast this season – continues to show increasing signs of development and may become a tropical depression by Sunday or Monday.

A second tropical wave is moving off the coast of Africa and is already forecast to become a tropical depression over the weekend or early next week.

The next names in the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season will be Nicholas and Odette.

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Trinidad and Tobago supports US decision to hold global COVID-19 summit

CMC – The Trinidad and Tobago government Friday welcomed the decision by the United States to stage a global COVID-19 summit in recognition of the danger posed by many of the world’s population not being vaccinated.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said the initiative announced by President Joe Biden is solidly aligned to the position of the 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM) grouping.

US officials said the summit would be timed around United Nations General Assembly meetings slated for the week of September 20, and involve discussions aimed at better coordinating the world’s coronavirus fight across a range of areas.

Among the topics up for discussion are ways to improve vaccine manufacturing and distribution and ramp up the supplies of oxygen to countries in need, and the possibility of international cooperation on research and development related to COVID-19.

Rowley, during his six-month tenure as chairman of the grouping earlier this year, had convened a special CARICOM summit to address COVID-19 vaccine availability as one of three high priority matters.

A key outcome was a call by CARICOM for a Global Summit in the context of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) ACT – A Facilitation Council to discuss equitable access and distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines.

CARICOM leaders had also registered their deep concern at the “current prospect of inequitable access to vaccines to address the pandemic, especially for frontline workers and vulnerable populations”.

They had also highlighted the fact that “small states will find it difficult to compete in the marketplace to ensure equitable access for vaccines”, with CARICOM stressing that all countries are vulnerable and should work together, given the transmissibility of the virus.

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Barbadians warned against selling vaccination cards

CMC – The co-coordinator of the National Vaccination Programme in Barbados, Major David Clarke, Friday warned perpetrators that they face prosecution as the authorities reported the sale of coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination cards.

Clarke said that the Immunisation Unit had become aware that members of the public were selling and purchasing the blue vaccination cards, which are issued to persons who have been vaccinated.

He said the practice is illegal and that the Royal Barbados Police Force is aware of the activity where the cards are being sold for as much as BDS$200 (One Barbados dollar=US$0.50 cents) each.

Clarke said that the practice is strictly prohibited and anyone caught selling the cards would be prosecuted.

He said that the blue cards were not only free, but should be issued by a certified healthcare professional to individuals who have been vaccinated against the virus that has been blamed for the deaths of 52 people and the infection of 5,561 others.

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Cuban national released on bail on a charge of falsifying COVID test results

CMC – Magistrate Leron Daly on Friday adjourned to November 5 a case in Guyana in which a Cuban national has been charged with allegedly falsifying his COVID-19 test results.

Yuri Garcia Dominguez was released on GUY$200,000 (one Guyana dollar=US$0.004 cents) bail after he was not required to plead to the charge that on July 27, at Georgetown, he conspired with persons known and unknown to forge a COVID-19 test result to show that he was positive for the disease.

Dominquez is already before the court on a series of fraud charges in relation to an alleged Ponzi scheme. Police also charged the Cuban national’s wife, Ateeka Ishmael, late last month with the same offence. She was also released on GUY $200,000 bail.

The duo are also before the courts after the police claimed that they solicited millions of dollars from hundreds of people through the Ponzi scheme by promising extraordinary returns of approximately 40 per cent.

On Monday, the couple appeared before the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court to answer to 38 new charges and were released on self-bail.