Established October 1895 The ‘Rag Doll’ syndrome Living with Myasthenia Gravis in PAGE 13 Barbados Friday June 4, 2021 $2 VAT Inclusive NO TO COALITION By Jenique Belgrave tions may be considering mours that the PdP was Earlier this year, in tion date of the next nothing to offer the DLP forming a coalition, but having coalition talk with teaming up with the DLP, general election. in the long term,” he in- THE Democratic no confirmation nor denial the Dems, but I would former PdP member Paul “I expect fully that the sisted. Labour Party (DLP) is has emerged from either urge Ms. Depeiza not to Gibson urged the newer PdP will end at the next As to the future of being encouraged not camps on the matter. encourage this because parties to do the same, election – whenever it is the leader of the PdP to entertain any However, Political the PdP has nothing to stating Barbadians are called – as I do not know Bishop Joe Atherley, thoughts of joining Scientist Peter Wickham offer the Democratic still more prone to vote for many people who are in- Wickham believes the forces with the People’s opined that the decades- Labour Party, and if I the traditional factions. terested in the PdP and St. Michael West MP will Party for Democracy old DLP, led by its was in the Dems I would Echoing this sentiment, therefore I do not see them contest the next election and Development President Verla Depeiza, want nothing to do with Wickham opined that like as a factor. Therefore, I “out of moral obligation”, (PdP). would be better off with- the PdP and their mission many other smaller polit- personally think that the but will take the opportu- Rumours have been cir- out the Bishop Joseph because it is one that is ical parties, the PdP will Dems would do well to nity to bow gracefully out culating for weeks that Atherley-led PdP. doomed to failure,” he fade away, even going as avoid any association with of politics if given the the two political organisa- “I too have heard the ru- said. far as giving it an expira- them because they have chance. CXC says it’s committed to supporting students THE Caribbean Examina- tions Council (CXC) has reiterated its commitment to working in the best in- terest of all candidates. Registrar and Chief Executive Officer, Dr Wayne Wesley, told stu- dents yesterday that the management and staff are committed to “supporting your efforts to continue de- veloping, learning in a safe environment, and achiev- ing the goals you have set for yourself”. He said that the re- gional examination body’s commitment also extends to transforming the edu- cational landscape of the region by providing glob- ally recognised educa- tional services. This includes a digital Bhedesh Persaud of Queen’s College, Guyana, the approach through e- most outstanding Caribbean Secondary Education Testing, e-Marking, Certificate (CSEC) 2020 candidate overall. Certificates, and new courses to meet the de- ally from Antigua and Secondary Level mand of the 21st century. Barbuda’s St John’s Competence (CCLSC) “Whether you decide to Pentecostal House of Examinations went to study at one of the many Restoration Ministries. Mya Lake from Anguilla; quality tertiary institu- Zane Ramotar was and male candidate over- tions in the region, or go named the most outstand- all, Leoneal Mark, from beyond our shores, your ing Caribbean Advanced Grenada. CXC qualifications are Proficiency Examination The Registrar ex- recognised and considered (CAPE) candidate overall; pressed, “These students as being either equivalent and Bhedesh Persaud, who we are recognising Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of CXC, Dr Wayne Wesley addressing to many first-year courses, most outstanding Carib- have shown true grit and CXC’s 2020 Regional Top Awards Ceremony. or suitable preparation, bean Secondary Edu- perseverance in a year both in terms of subject cation Certificate (CSEC) that held many chal- have even known was dates achieved acceptable He also noted that in knowledge and general candidate overall. The top lenges…I want to say to within you.And in return, grades between one and 2020, 94.96% of CSEC competencies. This is a students of the June/July our awardees and all the you will see the fruits of four, which was an im- candidates achieved ac- standard we at CXC are 2020 examinations hail students, teachers, par- your efforts.” provement over the per- ceptable grades between proud.” from Queen’s College, ents, who made the deci- Dr.Wesley reported that formance in 2019, 2018, one and three, an improve- He was at the time ad- Guyana. In addition, most sion each day to keep CXC was “heartened” by and 2017, with an average ment over 2019 and 2018 dressing CXC’s 2020 outstanding female candi- going – you’re an inspira- last year’s performance of 92% of candidates which saw 72.2% and Regional Top Awards date overall in the tion, you have shown a re- statistics, which showed achieving grades one to 70.3% respectively. Ceremony, hosted virtu- Caribbean Certificate of silience that you may not that 93.2% of CAPE candi- five. (TL) 2 • Friday June 4, 2021 The Barbados Advocate Three new positives, 33 in isolation THE Best-dos Santos Public Health from the viral illness. Laboratory identified three new The public health laboratory has positive cases (one male and two recorded 171,750 tests since February females) of COVID-19 from among 2020. the 496 tests conducted on A total of 80,392 persons have been Wednesday, June 2. vaccinated under the National There are currently 33 persons in Vaccination isolation. Programme. Of that number, 60,890 Barbados now has 4,026 confirmed people have received both doses of the cases of COVID-19 – 1,948 females and vaccine. 2,078 males, and 47 persons have died (BGIS) PAHO chief calls for action DIRECTOR of the Pan American “We are very far from this goal, espe- Health Organisation (PAHO) Dr. cially for the low-income countries Carissa Etienne has warned that that are still struggling to protect wishful thinking will not resolve health professionals and those more this COVID-19 crisis. vulnerable. COVAX has already She reported that in just the first delivered some 17.6 million doses to five months of 2021 both cases and our region, but progress is not deaths have almost doubled in the keeping up with the pandemic,” she region. indicated. “We need action,” she stressed, reiter- “Regional solidarity, including the do- ating the need for effective leadership. nation of doses, will be key to get us “This pandemic has taught us time through the current shortage of sup- and again that leadership determines ply. Vaccines will save lives and pre- the effectiveness of a country’s re- vent future waves, but for the current sponse. Sadly, across our region we’ve surge in infections we have to deploy seen misinformation about COVID-19, the tools that we have at hand”. and this has sown doubt on proven Public Health measures, according to health measures, often in the context of the PAHO Chief, remain the best political disputes. By stoking contro- way to save lives now. However, she versy where there is none, our leaders pointed out that at a time when staying are sending mixed messages to the home and practising proven public public and standing in a way of effective health measures couldn’t be more measures to control the virus. important, the total opposite is being We must unite around stopping this seen. virus – and this should be the prior- “Mobility data from across our region ity”. shows there is more movement within and between countries now than at any Need to boost vaccines other point during this pandemic. Dr. Etienne also re-emphasised during When you combine this mobility with PAHO’s virtual press conference the ur- the premature relaxing of public health gency to boost access to vaccines. She measures, what you get is the perfect said that effective vaccines are a beacon environment for the virus – and its of hope in this crisis, “and we must do variants – to spread,” Dr. Etienne ex- all in our power to secure more doses for plained. all nations in the Americas”. (TL) The Barbados Advocate Friday June 4, 2021 • 3 Dramatic impact of COVID-19 on Caribbean’s travel sector revealed THE loss of 680,000 travel later this year. bution to GDP dropped a that research shows if mo- significant. “While we’re seeing and tourism jobs across That’s according to staggering 58%, higher bility and international The number of those em- great progress in some re- the Caribbean region has Senior Vice President of than the global average. travel resume by June this ployed in the Caribbean gions with the vaccination had a terrible socio-eco- the WTTC, Virginia The impact on the region’s year, the sector’s contribu- Travel & Tourism sector rollout, we know it will nomic impact, leaving Messina, during the recent GDP fell from USD$58.4 tion to global GDP could fell from nearly 2.76 take a significant amount huge numbers of people launch of the annual billion (14.1%) in 2019, to rise sharply in 2021, by million in 2019, to 2.08 of time to inoculate the fearing for their future. Economic Impact Report USD$24.5 billion (6.4%), 48.5%, year-on-year. million in 2020, a drop of global population, partic- However, the World (EIR) which reveals the just 12 months later in The job losses were felt almost a quarter (24.7%).