Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) Timothy Antoine has raised concerns over the incidents of the coronavirus present in the Caribbean.
“We are very concerned over the incidents of the Novel Coronavirus which as we know is now in the Caribbean,” he said.
He was speaking during a press conference held in the ECCB Agency office at the Financial Centre in Roseau yesterday.
Reports coming from various media have indicated that the Dominican Republic has confirmed its first case of coronavirus from an Italian tourist, according to a Reuters report.
Meanwhile, the French Agency, French-Passe (AFP) have reported confirmed cases in St. Barthélemy and French Saint Martin. The cases were confirmed by the Institute Pasteur Laboratory of Guadeloupe which is conducting tests for the virus.
According to Antoine, the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) has indicated that the Caribbean region is at high risk in respect of the disease.
He stated that the immediate focus on the central bank is to support the number of countries with the capacity to detect and also to prevent.
“It is a very serious situation which we are paying much attention to,” he stated.
Antoine continued, “The ECCB is ready with their approval to help with providing equipment and the requisite medical technology to ensure that we can do effective testing in the country.”
He went on to say that recently the ECCB understood that Dominica was the only country in the ECCU that has the testing capacity for the coronavirus.
“We want to ensure that all of our member countries, all 8 had the capacity,” Antoine stated. “Because if you have sent it to Trinidad or some other country outside of the region there is going to be a delay, so you want to speed that up so you can establish status…”
Beyond that he said the ECCB stands ready to provide support if required from any member countries or financial institution.
Furthermore he said the ECCB continues to monitor the development very closely.
“We are very mindful that the health issue it has implications for the economy,” he indicated.
Antoine pointed out that in the event someone gets sick and has to stay home that will affect the business as well as the productivity and output of the country.
He highlighted some of the best defense mechanisms for the virus which include; no hand shaking and hugging, proper handwashing, boosting up our immune system and persons who are sick are advised to stay away from the office to prevent the spread.
The only person that is not concerned is Roosevelt Skerrit. All the man is concerned about is staying in power so he could hide. How do you explain that you are concerned about coronavirus and you still have cruise ships coming here and putting our taxiies at risk knowing that the same taxies used to transport tourists today are the same ones used to transport us on a daily basis? How could you be concerned about us and at a time when coronavirus was causing havoc around the world, Skerrit had the audacity to allow carnival to go through knowing people would come from all over to play mass and we are not capable of treating a bad cold let alone coronavirus that is so contagious?
It is amazing that we continue to miss the forest for the trees!!! It is pitiful that we are not learning the obvious lesson here. We are all panicking that the virus has reached the Dominican republic, so it is in the Caribbean, but how did it get there? An italian tourist. Do we need to know more? He was on a cruise liner!!
The best means by which we can protect our citizenry is by ensuring that the virus does not reach our shores but no mention yet about protecting our borders.
Irrespective of the plans you hear mentioned we still have porous borders. I have asked for activity to be heightened around entry ports. We must have effective sanitation methods to disinfect any potential entry to our shores. Once that level is breached, we quarantine to contain any infection on the island, then we consider treatment to destroy any infection and support of the affected. Lysol and Clorox destroys the virus, it says on their labels.