WHAT'S ON

Read the Latest Notes from Cabinet held at its last meeting.

𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐂𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐭: (𝐏𝐓𝟭)
The Cabinet invited the acting Chief Medical Officer (CMO), the Director of Education, and the Director of Pharmaceutical Services to its meeting. The meeting agreed that the global figures within all secondary schools indicate that herd immunity has been achieved and more than 80% of the secondary school student population is now vaccinated.

In balancing the benefits against the risk the Cabinet has agreed that face-to-face learning of all Secondary School students, whether vaccinated or not, shall commence on 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟐𝐧𝐝 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟏. It was also agreed that the Ministry will conduct sessions with parents of unvaccinated students, the object being to inform of the necessity to act now and not to delay in getting their children vaccinated. 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐯𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝, 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐂𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐃-𝟏𝟗 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬.

𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐂𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐭: (𝐏𝐓𝟐)
The CMO (Acting) provided data showing that the number of new cases of COVID-19 has declined on a weekly basis to 27 cases per week, in the weeks of November 2021; while in the 37th week of the disease, the number was 437 in that week. On Tuesday there were four new cases and 61 active cases in total, with 3,960 recovered cases, leading to a total of 4,129 infections since the start of the COVID19 Pandemic in Antigua and Barbuda.

The Chairman of Cabinet and the CMO (Ag.) agreed that mandates proved necessary in order to achieve herd immunity in schools, in the private sector, and among public employees. 𝐀𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐯𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐭, 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐨𝐧 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟏. 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐯𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟏 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐂𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐃-𝟏𝟗 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬.

-Banks and other financial institutions that have achieved community immunity of 80% will be permitted to have testing of their un-vaccinated employees, beginning December 1st 2021.

-Private sector entities are to issue their own exemption certificates on the grounds of religion and or medical reasons. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

-Visitors to Antigua and Barbuda and nationals who are returning to enjoy their country and who wish to visit bars, clubs, dine-in restaurants, and places of entertainment are to present their vaccination certificates that they presented on arrival in the country for them to be allowed entry.

-The Minister of Information, whose portfolio includes the issuance of the new COVID-19 vaccine cards, reported that more than 16,000 cards have been distributed; 2,500 cards are not yet distributed and remain in the production team’s possession

-Competitive sports shall resume from Monday, November 22, using the previously agreed-upon protocols.

-𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟕𝐭𝐡 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟏.

-The restrictions imposed on people travelling from high COVID infected countries such as the Dominican Republic, Brazil, India, and South Africa will also be lifted on January 1st, 2022.

𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐂𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐭: (𝐏𝐓𝟕)
Since Christmas falls on a Saturday and Boxing Day on a Sunday in 2021, the announcements published in the Gazette of November 17th, 2019 holds: Monday and Tuesday, 27th and 28th December 2021, are Public Holidays.
-Plans for V.C Bird Day on December 9th, 2021, are being conceptualized in the Ministry of Cultural Industries. A budget is being developed that will reflect the extent of the celebratory events planned for the days leading up to and including December 9th.

All notes from the latest meeting can be found here.