Black Immigrant Daily News

In urging Jamaicans not to panic in light of the island recording its first case of Monkeypox, Health and Wellness Minister, Dr Christopher Tufton, says he does not envision the island returning to lockdowns to contain the virus locally.

In fact, Tufton is expressing confidence that health authorities are capable of treating and tracking the virus, due to its relatively mild nature.

“I am confident that given the nature of the virus, (and) given the nature of the virus globally, to date, discovering one case doesn’t make or create a crisis,” he said at the ministry’s emergency virtual press briefing on Wednesday.

Tufton said there was always the possibility that the country would record a case of Monkeypox, given that the country’s borders were opened and other countries continued to record cases of the virus.

“Having said that, we do believe that we have the capacity to respond and, particularly, if Jamaicans play their part. And so, I do not envision the kind of response to the novel coronavirus when it came on board in March 10, 2020,” he asserted.

“I believe that we can manage this current threat, and if we play our part, we can manage it in a way where we can continue to live our normal existence, whether (at) play or otherwise.

“I would say to Jamaicans, just play your part. God knows the country cannot deal with another extremity. We have a lot of side effects to this point from the COVID-19 pandemic. So, we are not only going to pray and ask God for guidance, but we gonna work to ensure that kind of guidance is taken advantage of by ourselves, and the role that we play,” declared Tufton.

To that end, the minister reiterated that Jamaicans have no reason to panic.

“This is not a reason to panic. It’s not a reason to be uncertain or scared. We informed you as soon as we got confirmation so that you are aware, and I think we have a duty to make you aware,” he said.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness has been notified of the health development, but in the interim, the country remains open for business, according to Tufton

“It is business as usual in terms of the functioning of the economy. The honourable prime minister and I spoke, and he is ready and always able to provide the leadership and guidance that is necessary,” said Tufton, adding that Cabinet has also been informed of the development.

Meanwhile, Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr Jacquiline Bisasor-McKenzie, said the disease is milder than “what we are use to and what we are seeking so far across the world”.

Dr Jacquiline Bisasor-McKenzie (file photo)

In stressing that persons should protect themselves by wearing a mask, physical distancing and covering any skin rashes, the CMO said public awareness and sensitisation will be increased.

The patient who tested positive for Monkeypox locally is a male who recently travelled from the United Kingdom. He presented to the public health system on July 5, having arrived on the island some five days earlier.

Bisasor-McKenzie said the man is from Clarendon, but there is no risk posed to the communities there, as all close contacts of the positive individual are presently in quarantine.

Like Tufton, the CMO said there is no need for panic in light of the presence of Monkeypox locally.

“This is the reason for not panicking; we don’t anticipate any risk. Our persons are on the ground as usual. We are very good at contact tracing, and we will uncover the cases and we will do our work to minimise the chance of spread to the population,” she outlined.

“This is a mild disease and it does require very close contact for transmission. Those are other reasons why persons should not panic. If you become sick, this is something that you can see, and therefore, you are spurred to action immediately in terms of isolating yourself,” indicated Bisasor-McKenzie.

In chiming into that leg of her response, Tufton warned that, “Panic leads to chaos… and we are not promoting chaos.

“We are promoting responsible behaviour in light of the new development,” he said, while urging persons with symptoms to present to a medical facility.

Tufton said the spread of Monkeypox may occur when a person comes into close contact with an infected animal or rodents.

Person-to-person spread is generally uncommon, but can occur through direct contact with Monkeypox skin lesions or scabs, contact with clothing or sheets or towels used by an infected person, as well as from cough or sneezing of an infected individual.

The virus enters the body through broken skin, even if not visible, or the mucus membranes (eyes, nose or mouth).

“The incubation period, as we understand it, is between five and 21 days. Symptoms, usually mild to moderate, can include fever, intense headaches, swelling of the lymph nodes, back pains, swelling, rash,” stated Tufton.

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UNC Senator Jayanti Lutchmedial at the Opposition’s media briefing on Sunday. – Photo by Angelo Marcelle

OPPOSITION Senator Jayanti Lutchmedial was so adamantly opposed to the continuation of a mandatory 120-day denial of bail for very serious crimes, that she vowed to be part of any court action to strike down the bill as unconstitutional.

She was in the Senate on Wednesday speaking in the continuation of debate on the Bail (Amendment) (Extension of Duration) Bill 2022 which the Senate later denied a requisite special majority by voting 18 senators yes, 11 voting no, and one abstaining.

The bill sought to give another year to the three-year sunset clause of the Bail (Amendment) Act 2019, which denied bail to suspects of serious crime who have had a past conviction for a crime described as serious.

The 2019 act said, “A court shall not grant bail to a person who, on or after the commencement of this act, is charged with an offence listed in Part II of the First Schedule, and has been previously convicted of an offence which is punishable by imprisonment for a term of ten years or more.”

Lutchmedial said the proposal for a law decided by legislators to deny judges the freedom to make decisions on whether to grant or withhold bail to a suspect was unlawful. Further, the blanket denial of bail to individuals merely charged, but not convicted of a particular offence, was also unethical.

She said while people might casually think 120 days was not a long time, she once spent 30 minutes in a jail cell, in the course of her duties as an attorney, commenting, “It was the longest half-hour of my life.”

Lutchmedial said it was “illegal, unconstitutional and a violation of the separation of powers” for the Legislature (Parliament) to interfere in the exercise of the Judiciary’s powers.

She said it was unreasonable for Parliament to legislate-away something that was a core judicial function.

“By bringing this bill, they are trying to camouflage their abject failure in dealing with the crime situation.”

She said the Government was also failing on education and in running the economy, all of which contribute to the rise in crime.

“So as they fail on this side and they fail on that side, they come to ask us to pass an unconstitutional piece of legislation.

“This will be challenged and, I dare say and God so help me, I will be part of the challenge to this piece of law if it is passed today. And it will be struck down.”

Replying to a senator who had earlier asked what was different now to 2019, she said, “What has changed is that the court has ruled on the issue of bail being a judicial function and it is not Parliament’s place to interfere with it.”

Lamenting a lack of anti-crime initiatives, Lutchmedial saw the bill as the Government’s admission of failure and intellectual bankruptcy. “They are ready to give up.

“The Government’s solution is that once a person is accused by the police of committing a certain list of offences, any of those offences, you must throw them in the prison and lock them away.”

Saying the government wants to take over the Judiciary’s role, as stated in the Bail Act (section 6), she said there has been no evidence of irresponsible judicial officers granting bail to people.

She said Parliament had once made “a huge constitutional concession” to the Government by passing the 2019 act.

“The fact that gang warfare and killings are today out of control is tangible evidence of the failure of the Bail (Amendment) Act 2019 to deliver on its promises.

“We are worse off than where we were. We are heading to 600 murders for this year, with this law in place.”

Lutchmedial said the Government’s conversation was about bail but should have been about guns. She recalled a man being denied bail who had then lost his job and his marriage, who went out to re-offend.

“The prison is the place where gang recruitment takes place.”

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Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh. Photo by Ayanna Kinsale

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh is advising parents who are sending their children to vacation camps to get them vaccinated against covid19. He said there are still vaccines available for the five-11-year age group.

He said regular childhood vaccinations against diseases such as measles, mumps, rubella, polio, yellow fever, and the like, were back to normal levels required for herd immunity after a shortfall earlier in the year with the exception of polio.

“The polio vaccination rate is at 94 per cent and we are looking for a further 200 children to bring us back up to 95 per cent. Polio was recently found in sewage in London, which is a bit of a concern.

“The anti-vax messages around covid19 had the effect of frightening parents away from vaccination in general, as laypersons don’t make the distinction between covid19 vaccines and other vaccines, and this is a worldwide trend. So now we have to work extra hard to find these 200 children to vaccinate against polio.

“What we look forward to with the new school term is the return to the tried and proven system where to get into a primary school you have to show evidence of your vaccination status. We urge parents to ignore the noise and misinformation and disinformation from those who don’t have your best interests at heart. We have been vaccinating children for these childhood diseases for decades with no issue.”

He said the Health Ministry would monitor the data between now and September to determine if children would have to be masked when schools reopened.

Deyalsingh said the current daily rate of vaccination against covid19 was very low, but had previously been at a steady rate up to June 30.

“Up until June 30, we were giving out 500-700 doses per day. Yesterday we gave out 47 first doses, and first doses and booster shots came up to 135.

“I’d like to remind the population that adults can still be boosted with J&J and Sinopharm. We are not stopping the vaccination programme, and we’re asking people to make an informed decision.

“With the dropping of the mask mandate on July 17, the 49 per cent of the population who are unvaccinated, you are placing yourselves in jeopardy by not being vaccinated.”

He said 48,000 of the Pfizer vaccines received in the second donated tranche had to be destroyed when they expired on June 30.

Asked about complaints of a shortage of CDAP drugs, Deyalsingh said there were sufficient stocks of the drugs present in TT, but pharmacies were not putting in their orders on time.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram said there are over 6,000 cases of monkeypox in 58 countries, with new African countries seeing cases outside the normal endemic areas. He said the World Health Organization will be reconvening its expert panel on or before July 18, given the rate of spread, to determine if a public health emergency of international concern is constituted. He said the Health Ministry is still in talks with the Pan-American Health Organization and the US Centres for Disease Control to acquire supplies of the vaccine for TT.

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Emergency personnel responding on Wednesday to a report that a car had run off the road at Praslin said they transported an adult female and two children to St Jude Hospital.

According to the Saint Lucia Fire Service (SLFS), the Micoud fire station received a distress call at 4:23 pm.

The SLFS said its responders immobilised the adult patient before taking her to hospital.

But she and the two children were ‘conscious and alert’ on their way to the medical facility.

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There are no further details at present.

Headline photo: Stock image

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Le week end dernier, les hommes de la Police nationale ont procédé à de multiples interpellations.

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