WASHINGTON, D.C. – The director of the Pan American Health Organization, (PAHO), Dr. Carissa F. Etienne Wednesday said that 617,000 indigenous people have been infected with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the Americas and urged countries to prioritize the hard-hit communities.

NASSAU, Bahamas – New COVID-19 restrictions have been announced by health officials here in an effort to stem an upsurge in cases of the virus in recent days.

From first responders to grocery store employees to healthcare workers and bus drivers—these are prime examples of the Black essential workers who are on the frontlines every day in a number of key industries in the US labor force. Unfortunately, with that prominence comes a higher risk of contracting COVID-19. There is a disproportionate number of Black Americans who serve at the labor forefront and are putting themselves at greater risk of contracting the virus. In fact, at the height of the pandemic earlier this year,one in four deaths from COVID-19 were Black Americans.  

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent – The St. Vincent and the Grenadines government will on Thursday pilot legislation amending the Public Health (Amendment) Bill 2021 that it says will allow for certain categories of public sector employees to be vaccinated in order to work in “frontline” jobs.

GENEVA –The United Nations program that leads the global fight against HIV and AIDS, UNAIDS, says in a report that nearly half of the 1.7 million children worldwide, including many in the Caribbean, living with HIV were not on treatment last year.

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris, said his Team Unity administration is committed to ensuring the highest level of safety and protection for its citizens and residents in the use of COVID-19 vaccines, and as such it will only consent to the use of vaccines that have been granted approval for emergency use by the World Health Organization (WHO). 

KINGSTON, Jamaica – A study on front-of-package labelling (FOPL) in Jamaica has found that octagonal warning labels perform best in helping local consumers make healthier food choices.

WASHINGTON, D.C.  – The director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Dr. Carissa F. Etienne Wednesday called on the year-old COVID-19 Genomic Surveillance Regional Network to keep “a close eye” on the emergence and spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) throughout the region.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley has raised the possibility of the vaccine to combat the coronavirus (COVID-19) becoming mandatory to the population should the virus mutate to the point of posing a serious threat to Trinidad and Tobago.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) notes that while many countries are making progress in the fight against tobacco use, some are failing to address the problem of emerging nicotine and tobacco products.

 First detected in India, the Delta strain of the COVID-19 virus is a spike protein mutation that can spread faster and exhibit different symptoms than COVID-19.

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti – The Government of Haiti on Thursday received 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines donated by the United States through the COVAX Facility.