One-Minute Reads ... News from around the region

HAITI

Tropical Storm Laura kills 10-y-o

A 10-year-old girl was killed in Haiti on Sunday when a tree fell on a house in the town of Anse-a-Pitres, to the south east of here, as Tropical Storm Laura continues to lash sections of the French-speaking Caribbean Community country. According to the Directorate of Civil Protection, the process of evacuating high-risk areas is continuing with the support of local authorities. The Ministry of Education also announced that it is considering the possible closure of schools that also serve as emergency shelters, and emergency-evacuation coordinators are on standby across the country and are also tasked with overseeing measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in emergency shelters.

Meanwhile, in the neighbouring Dominican Republic, gusts of wind and intense downpours have left more than a million homes without electricity supply.

Barbados records two more COVID-19 deaths

The Ministry of Health on Sunday reported that the territory has recorded two more deaths attributed to COVID-19.

This is in addition to 62 newly confirmed cases, bringing the total number of cases to 1,765, with 1,504 of those active.

Concerning the deaths, a 45-year-old woman and a 63-year-old woman, both from New Providence, died on Friday night and Saturday morning, respectively.

Health Minister Renward Wells has offered condolences to the family of a registered nurse, Bernadette Rolle, who was a victim of the virus.

The death toll across the country now stands at 29.

Grenada places T&T travellers in new travel category

The Government of Grenada has now placed Trinidad and Tobago in its medium risk travel category, in the wake of COVID-19.

This means that any passenger arriving from the twin-island republic will be mandated to show a negative COVID-19 test result at the port of arrival.

The passenger will then be mandated to spend 14 days in quarantine. Previously, Trinidad and Tobago was in the low-risk category, which required all arriving passengers to show a negative test, and there was no need for quarantine. According to health officials, Grenada is continuously assessing the global COVID-19 pandemic as part of plans to either remove or include countries from travel-risk categories. The categories are low, medium, or high risk as reflective in the number of COVID-19 cases during a 14-day period.

US Coast Guard repatriates 20 Cuban migrants

The US Coast Guard says that 20 Cuban migrants were repatriated after law-enforcement teams stopped two illegal voyages off the Florida Keys.

It said that Station Islamorada and US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air and Marine Operation teams interdicted a 27-foot cabin cruiser on Tuesday after a CBP aircraft spotted the boat about 19 miles south of Long Key, Florida. Two of the migrants were transferred ashore to US Homeland Security Investigation agents, and 11 were transferred to Coast Guard Cutter Charles David Jr and repatriated to Cabanas, Cuba. In the other illegal voyage, a Coast Guard Cutter Resolute law-enforcement team interdicted a 27-foot row boat on Wednesday about 43 miles off Marathon, Florida. Nine of the migrants were also repatriated to Cabanas.

Queen wants stronger ties between UK and Guyana

Queen Elizabeth II, in a congratulatory letter to President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali, said she hopes to further strengthen the ties between Guyana and the United Kingdm.

The British monarch also wished Ali and "the Guyanese people every success for the future". Earlier this month, Ali was sworn in as the ninth president of Guyana following a protracted regional and general election. On August 2, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) declared Ali the winner of the March 2 presidential elections.

GECOM named the main opposition People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) the victors in the poll, receiving 32 seats as compared to 31 for the former administration, A Partnership for National Unity, headed by former president David Granger.