St Kitts and Nevis government has given people every tool and advantage to tackle COVID-19: PM Harris

Basseterre: Citing the COVID-19 as the greatest challenge to St Kitts and Nevis, Prime Minister Dr Timothy Harris reiterated everyone to fully engage in the fight against COVID-19 as the government focuses on bringing back normalcy. During his monthly press briefing, PM Harris outlined the government’s efforts to provide every tool and every advantage to tackle the global pandemic. “To prevent our health system from being overwhelmed, the Federal government has spent $18.4 million since March 2020 to procure equipment, additional manpower, including the cost of Cuban and Filipino medical brigades, other physicians and specialists support, pharmaceuticals particularly vaccines.” The way forward Prime Minister outlined their objectives to tackle the virus efficiently with helpful tools to stem the virus.

80% population to be received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by November 2021.
70% of the target population to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19
80% of the students between the age of 12-17 years to be vaccinated with Pfizer by December 31, 2021.
Advanced contact tracing and prevention of laboratory overwhelming.
A reduced quarantine period of fully vaccinated passengers.

Apart from this, PM also emphasized that government will strengthen the health system of the Federation.

In October 2021, St Kitts and Nevis government will receive and commissioner a field hospital that will have a bedding capacity of 40. That will offer an additional buffer to the health system in a fight against COVID-19.
Tax waivers and Tax holidays for people who are involved in serving in specialized health services.

Agriculture and Fisheries PM lauded that farmers and fishers are detrimental in delivering food to St Kitts and Nevis and generating foreign exchange savings as extra is being produced in the Federation. “For the period January to August 2021, fish landing were 509,700, with the landed value of $5.7 million. This represents a 23% increase in output over the comparative period in 2020.” Prime Minister encouraged fishers to register themselves as self-employed persons with social security that will protect all workers at all times of vulnerability, including pension in their old age. He also added that there was an addition of 81 fishers registration compared to the year 2020 and the total registered fishers are 1,294. Manufacturing During the press briefing, PM said that the manufacturing sector of St Kitts and Nevis is wholly resilient, which provides direct employment to over 1,200 employees in the Federation. “JARO Limited is the largest employer with 253 employees, followed by Carib Brewery with 160 employees, Kajola Kristada 157 employees and HAROWE SERVO 122 employees.” He added that in spite of COVID-19 challenges, all these manufacturing companies are contributing to Saint Kitts and Nevis GDP in real terms. Tourism To bring boom in the tourism sector, the government is making efforts to market the destination of Saint Kitts and Nevis. PM expressed his optimistic nature related to the resumption of the tourism sector, which faced severe impact due to COVID-19. Construction While talking about the construction sector, Prime Minister said that the sector continues to provide enhanced employment opportunities to the residents and citizens. He added that with the number of capital projects being developed in the Federation and the implementation of a new middle housing project at Cayon, the government expects even more persons to find employment. Second Stimulus Package Expressing the success of the Stimulus package during the COVID-19 lockdowns, Prime Minister said that the government has paid out $4.6 million to over 2,000 successful applicants and the third batch of payment will be cleared in October 2022. He ensured that persons whose applications are disapproved would go through the second stage of vetting to ensure that no deserving person is left behind. The cheques will be disbursed until every qualified person is restored to employment. However, the Fuel Subsidy Programme has paid off $81,600 to bus drivers and Disability support has benefited 142 families in the Federation and the total payout amounts $163,500. $181,000 specialized truck has been handed over to the Abattoir to provide assistance to farmers in preserving the quality of their meat produces and offer healthier stock for consumption of St Kitts and Nevis citizens and residents. $2.7 million PAP payments were processed by the treasury for September, bringing the total payments amount to $24.2 million.

St Kitts and Nevis government has given people every tool and advantage to tackle COVID-19: PM Harris

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