NEWS
Covid19 surveillance testing starts in a week
From Monday the Ministry of Health will be able to ramp up covid19 testing across TT. Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh told the media during a virtual press conference on Monday that the ministry had received 1,750 extraction kits. These are to be used in conjunction with the 4,000 testing kits given to TT by China and another 10,000 are expected to arrive in two weeks. This week the ministry will begin training health officials in how to do covid19 tests. He said, “Once they are trained we will have to spend time certifying the results we get from about 200 tests are compatible with CARPHA." Read more here
US oil prices plummet to below zero dollars
The world oil markets were turned upside down yesterday as the price of a barrel of crude crashed to less than zero dollars and up to late last night was trading at US60 cents a barrel—less than the cost of a bottle of water. The precipitous fall in prices could spell more trouble for the T&T economy, leading to an even larger deficit and hurting Government’s attempts to avoid a free-fall of the economy and endangering state-owned Heritage Petroleum. (See other story)Heritage Petroleum yesterday announced it will cease exports of its daily production and instead store the crude for the next two months in the hope prices improve. Economists and industry experts have warned a prolonged period of low prices could lead to a catastrophic decline for the economy and Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has publicly asked if the country can sustain its subsidies and transfers in the midst of the depressed prices. Read more here
POLITICS
Kamla asks again: What next?
Opposition leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar continues to question what’s next for TT, after covid19 restrictions are lifted. This comes as Persad-Bissessar, in a statement on Monday, renewed calls for the government to share what post-covid19 restriction plans will be considered by the government’s recently established Road Map Recovery Team. Urging that businesses closed by covid19 restrictions must be reopened “sooner rather than later”, she said, “We must think for ourselves and stop waiting to copy what other countries do while our citizens suffer.” Read more here
PM: Situation beyond a nightmare
A situation beyond that imagined in a nightmare. This was the reaction of Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley after he learnt of the dramatic drop in US oil prices while at the first meeting of Trinidad and Tobago’s Road Map to Recovery team yesterday. “I also want to tell you, there’s been no time like this and even in a bad dream we couldn’t anticipate this. ... I knew when I came in here the price of oil was $5 a barrel WTI. It has just gone to one dollar. Ladies and gentlemen, one dollar a barrel per oil did not exist in my adult life,” Rowley said during his address at the meeting. The Prime Minister pointed out that according to the World Bank’s Semi-Annual Report on the Latin America and Caribbean Region, Trinidad and Tobago was more prepared for the crisis than most of its Caribbean counterparts. He, however, stressed that proper planning for life after COVID-19 needed to be thoroughly considered. “Trinidad and Tobago must now plan for its post peak COVID-19 future within the confines of the ‘new normal,’ at least until such time that a vaccine is developed and tested, which could take between 12-18 months,” Rowley said. Read more here
BUSINESS
When will T&T be open for business again?
While further restrictions were being imposed on business activity in T&T yesterday to curb the spread of COVID-19, several European countries lifted their own measures in an attempt to restart economic activity. Germany, Denmark, Norway, and the Czech Republic all removed various restrictions yesterday in an attempt to balance public health with economic revival. Among the first businesses allowed to reopen in Germany yesterday were bookstores, car dealerships, and bike stores. Germans still have to exercise social distancing by remaining at least five feet away from each other in these businesses. According to official figures Germany recorded 1,775 new cases for the past day, while the number of deaths linked to COVID-19 rose by 110 to 4,404.A study published April 6 in the medical journal The Lancet and a separate paper by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development — suggest that school closures are less important than workplace closures in stemming the spread of the novel coronavirus. Read more here
PM:Not a bad dream, this is real
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley pointed to the stark reality facing the people of Trinidad and Tobago as he addressed the first meeting of the Team for the Road Map for Trinidad and Tobago post COVID Pandemic. The 22-member team was announced last Thursday. Read more here
REGIONAL
Hanging up on call centres - 14-day lockdown to curb virus spread
Uncertainty now hangs over the lucrative business process outsourcing (BPO) sector after the Government announced a 14-day lockdown of the industry within the next 24 hours, but has offered exemptions to operators who support critical private- and public-sector services. Exemptions also apply to work-from-home arrangements. The move comes amid a swell in COVID-19 infections linked to the Alorica call centre, which triggered a lockdown of the parish of St Catherine, which has a population of around 520,000 – or one-fifth of the country. Read more here
Death threat issued to GECOM CHAIR
Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, on Monday, said she has filed a report withthe Guyana Police Force and the Cybercrime Unit about an alleged plot to have her assassinated. “Of course, I reported this to the police, but not only the police, but the Cyber Crime Unit as well,” Justice Singh told reporters while at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre. The GECOM Chair noted that the assassination plot was brought to her attention on Friday (April 17) night, hours after she had taken a decision that there will be no more than 10 workstations during the National Recount of all the ballots cast at the March 2 General and Regional Elections. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Coronavirus: Immigration to US to be suspended amid pandemic, Trump says
President Donald Trump has said he will sign an executive order to temporarily suspend all immigration to the US because of the coronavirus. On Twitter, he cited "the attack from the invisible enemy", as he calls the virus, and the need to protect the jobs of Americans, but did not give details. It was not clear what programmes might be affected and whether the president would be able to carry out the order. Critics say the government is using the pandemic to crack down on immigration. Immigration has traditionally been a strong campaigning theme for Mr Trump, but has taken a back seat during the pandemic and in the lead-up to the November election. Read more here
Why the confusion about Kim Jong Un's health actually makes sense
Confusing and sometimes conflicting reports emerged Tuesday about the health of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. That was followed by intense speculation on his whereabouts, his medical condition and the future of the world's only hereditary communist state. Initial rumblings began after North Korea's most important holiday came and went on April 15 without an appearance by Kim, which was unusual. Then Daily NK, an online publication based in South Korea that focuses on the north, reported that Kim had received a cardiovascular system procedure on April 12, and was being treated in a villa in Hyangsan County. Read more here
21st April 2020