San
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Thursday, July 9,
2009 Belize's Only Daily |
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NO NEED FOR COUNTRY WIDE PANIC
OVER THE H1N1 CASES Belize
has recorded its first cases of the Influenza “A” H1N1 Influenza. On
Tuesday the Ministry of Health announced that the first five cases of
the influenza came from the Casino area in the Corozal District. The
ministry credits the heightened surveillance to the limited cases that
has been recorded compared to the volume of people that access the area
on a daily basis. Director of Health Services Dr. Michael Pitts says
that there is no need for major concerns at this time.
Doctor Michael Pitts; Director of Health Services “The reason I am saying this is that Belize is one of the last counties in Central America to have the disease but unlike when we started out with the scare eight weeks ago the disease is not as fatal as we thought. In fact it is acting more like the regular flew now. Even though we found five positive cases, those people are at home well. They got the initial treatment; it was nothing major and so I think they can get by with the public service messages that we had shared earlier. Just have good hand hygiene and cough etiquette. We Belizeans to go to the nearest health center if you develop symptoms especially if you have traveled to areas where this disease is present.” The disease was first reported in Mexico eight weeks ago and to date has affected millions of people worldwide. Pitts says that because the disease had become a worldwide pandemic, it was just a matter of time that Belize would have recorded some cases. Doctor Michael Pitts; Director of Health Services “We have heightened surveillance; we never really reduced that. We looked at the Free Zone area as a hot spot or a potential area from the first week we said that we identified the Free Zone as one of those areas. In fact, when we were strategic with what we were doing when we had the initial shutdown of major gatherings. When we relaxed Free Zone were one of the areas that we had kept contained but we moved the post a little further down the road and said that we would do active surveillance and work with the Free Zone to mitigate. This morning one of our Epidemiologist is up at the Free Zone speaking with the Managers of the different Casino’s and see what steps we could do. So far the numbers are showing five cases and I will tell you that in our estimation that if you have two thousand people entering the Free Zone a day those five cases were obtained out of a one week surveillance.” In the meantime, the Ministry is awaiting the results of fifteen other samples that have been sent to CAREC for testing. Majority of the suspected cases only presented mild flu like symptoms indicating that the virus is changing. Doctor Michael Pitts; Director of Health Services “The truth is not that H1N1 obviously has to where it is a worldwide pandemic just that it is not highly fatal. It is now like the regular flew we have very year. We may have a pandemic of some new stain of influenza viruses but they are not fatal or have a very low fatality rate and we do not do anything major with those. I think this is where we are heading with H1N1. It can spread across the rest of the county but just like regular flew. The thing is that the diseases have been very low impact in terms of illness. There is another picture that we have to understand; a number of cases may be sub-clinical. The US has said that while they recognize laboratory confirmed cases there might have been close to a million cases that were not confirmed in a laboratory and in fact those people had mild symptoms.” The ministry says that there is no need at this time to limit mass gatherings but continues its heightening surveillance and awareness campaign to contain this situation. The results from the 15 other samples are expected on Friday. LoveFM Honduran crisis and its effects on
Belize
There have been widespread protests in
Honduras since a coup de etat
ousted President Manuel Zelaya to Costa Rica on the twenty eight of
June on the eve of a referendum that would gauge public reaction to
amend the constitution which does not allow Presidential re-election.
Opposition leaders allege that the referendum was ultimately aimed at
allowing Zelaya to run for a second term. The government now run by
Roberto Micheletti, has come under fire by the United Nations, the
Organization of American States, and the European Union which have
condemned the military coup. Honduras is Belize’s neighbor and we asked
Honduran Ambassador Manuel Sandoval how their national crisis will
impact its ties with Belize.
Manuel Sandoval, Honduran Ambassador to Belize “Belize is a part of SICA. They passed a resolution that doesn’t recognize the interim government. That’s the reason why Maya Island Air is not sending flights to Honduras; because the Belize government has prohibited flying to Honduras because they need authorization from the government. The situation in Honduras is very difficult. I think that dialogue is very difficult. Tomorrow the two parties will meet to continue with the dialogue in respect to what happened on the twenty-eighth of June.” Jose Sanchez “O.A.S. suspended Honduras, should SICA do the same?” Wilfred ‘Sedi’ Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs “I think that it’s almost certain that SICA will have to do the same because all the members of SICA are members of the O.A.S.. And the decision taken by O.A.S. was, in my view, unanimous. So I can’t see the SICA integration movement not adopting the same position.” Jose Sanchez “Belize’s Foreign Minister, Mr. Elrington said there is a possibility that SICA might suspend Honduras. What is your reaction to that?” Manuel Sandoval “As I said dialogue, the conflicting parties are meeting and we expect a solution can be arrived at soon, since it’s the poor people who are suffering from the situation and definitely Honduras can be bankrupt if the problem is not solved.” Jose Sanchez “What impact does Honduras have on Belize? Do we have economic ties what is the relationship and how would it be affected?” Wilfred ‘Sedi’ Elrington “It is possible that we will have difficulties doing business as usual in Honduras. Financial institutions will become reluctant to lend because of the unstable situation. Civil and some facilities, government facilities might be disrupted. Trade, if that happens, then trade will be disrupted because of course we have to pass through customs and immigration to do trade the like so that is a possibility.” Jose Sanchez “And in regards to migrants?” Wilfred ‘Sedi’ Elrington “We are very likely to have more Hondurans coming to Belize because they certainly want to be looking for security and also for search of employment.” Sandoval said that if the dialogue does not succeed the situation could severely impact Honduras. Meanwhile, in San Jose, Costa Rica tight security measures are being put in place at the residence of President Oscar Arias. This Thursday, both Zelaya and Micheletti will meet eye to eye. Arias did not reveal today the specific details of tomorrow’s dialogue but Zelaya expects that his reinstatement will come about.CH5 Maya’s newest service takes flight
Maya Island Air launched its regional
services today and the
occasion was marked with plenty flourish and personalities of the past
and present administration, including at least three ministers, the
current Prime Minister and his predecessor. The airline, which has been
in operation for almost half a century, has bought and outfitted three
ATR 72’s that seat sixty eight passengers. The planes touched down at
the Philip Goldson International Airport this morning after overnight
night flights giving way to the inaugural ceremony. According to Louis
Zabaneh, the airline’s C.E.O., Maya is now flying to Cancun, Mexico;
and Guatemala City and is also scheduled to fly to Honduras.
Louis Zabaneh, C.E.O., Maya Island Air Regional “It’s the launching of our first flight. We had flights going out yesterday to Cancun and to Guatemala and then we brought the flights in this morning for the inauguration ceremonies in Belize. So we have people from Cancun, Honduras, Guatemala and of course here in Belize who are altogether now celebrating the inauguration.” Prime Minister Dean Barrow “It’s a huge investment. It involves foreign partners and I’m saying that given what's happens with foreign direct investment, Mr. Zabaneh was able to attract foreign partners is extremely good. But to come right to the point what it’s going to do for tourism, or what potentially it will do for tourism is exciting, absolutely wonderful. And I’m saying it could not have come at a better time.” Jose Sanchez “So the flights will be daily?” Louis Zabaneh, Maya Island Air Regional “The flights will be daily, we are actually running just half of our schedule because of the conditions in Honduras right now. We hope that those will improve and we can start the flights from there, which we should have started today. We will have a flight that leaves Cancun at eight in the morning to Belize; a fifty minute flight and then a nine-thirty departure to Guatemala. The aircraft then leaves Guatemala in the evening at five-fifteen and gets to Belize at six-oh-five and departs from Belize to Cancun around six-fifty.” CH5 PM Dean Barrow's
Patience Running Thin
Of course, the confirmed cases H1N1 are
only the flavour “du
jour” in a health system that’s confronting various maladies – not
least of which is the KHMH stalemate. Luckily, it was business as usual
at the KHMH today – but the labour and administrative dispute is still
entrenched. However, there is a small development to report tonight on
the ongoing deadlock between the KHMH Board and its doctors. 7News has
confirmed that today the doctors met with Senator Godwin Hulse. The
doctors discussed with Senator Hulse the possibility of nominating him
to represent their interest in future negotiations. Before that became
known, this morning Prime Minister Dean Barrow told us that he has
urged both sides to attempt another round of mediation and he even
offered to assist. He also made it clear though that his patience has
run thin.
Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister “And I certainly am prepared to try to intervene to see if I can help to force a resolution but ultimately if all that fails, we go, I would think, it is a matter for the Minister of Labour but I don’t see how we will avoid going to binding arbitration.” Keith Swift, Do you think the doctors are somewhat being unreasonable when you consider that they walked away from the last mediation attempts? Hon. Dean Barrow, “I absolutely think so and I am not going to withdraw from that position. At the start I had a great deal of sympathy for the doctors, I made that clear, and number, every single one of their initial demand was met except for their insistence that Dr. Fabro be fired without due process. They keep moving the goal posts and even the additional demands, as I understand it, have been to a large extent been met by the Board. The fact that they nevertheless simply walk away from the process and will engage in the kind of industrial action that sees them in my view, violate their duty of care to patients is something of which I certainly cannot approve.” The idea to nominate Hulse as a facilitator for the union will have to be approved by Labour Commissioner Ivan Williams but more importantly, also by the board.CH7 NOTICES
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Planned Power
Outages
July 11, 2009 will be Feeder
3- this is all of Boca Del Rio (starting from Harmouch
Center) to North Ambergris (last resort that is energized by BEL)
It will commence at 6:00am until
2:00pm
July 12, 2009 will be Feeder
2 this is from Harmouch Center all of Pescador Dr and all area up to
Maya Island Air Terminal inclusive San Pedrito Subd. extends to Blake
St., San Pablo Subd., Escalante Subd., This will commence at 6:00am
until 12:00Noon
July 18, 2009 will be Feeder 1 which is all of Barrier Reef Dr. This will commence at 6:00am until 12:00Noon July 19, 2009 will be Feeder
4 which is all of Angel Coral Dr from Hol Chan Office, Coconut
Dr., to the end of the line @ Boca Ciega. This
will commence at 6:00am until 12:00Noon
THOUGHT
OF THE DAY
Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them? Abraham Lincoln
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