Key points and live updates from the February 2, 2021 COVID management press conference featuring Prime Minister Mia Mottley.
- Too many people still are not wearing masks.
- Too many people still gathering.
- COVID-19 “ain’t playing”.
- The real battle is in the households, the village shops, the communities.
- This is not about hurting anyone.
- Take time to Pause, Reflect, Refresh and Renew.
- I know what it is like to have a life-long battle with dieting.
- There is no cheating with dieting.
- You cannot cheat and beat COVID.
- Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley reinforced for Barbadians to cooperate with those coming to their homes under Operation Seek and Save.
- Government will deploy public address systems across the country to reach as many people as possible.
- Operation Seek and Save
- If something is wrong, say it.
- If something isn’t right, shout.
- Government expects to receive supplies from India.
- The first batch of 100 000 vaccines is for 50 000 people and they are hoping to deploy them in the near future.
- There will be public information and sensitisation on the vaccines.
- There are some people who are ready, but the beneficiaries must be front line workers.
- These include those working in the medical facilities, police, national security forces and critical essential services, the elderly and the most vulnerable, especially individuals with multiple co-morbidities
- We are working assiduously to get more vaccines.
- Prime Minister Mottley asked everyone country to pause, pray and reflect for five minutes on Sunday at midday, on what we must do to save our nation and people.
- We are a country that literally believes in a higher force.
- Anyone in a position to help swab please call 535-5352.
- There are 11 teams in the field now.
- People are volunteering to help.
- There are challenges with COVID-19 test results.
- The reagent for automatic extraction of the RNA from samples is not available.
- The manual extraction for PCR tests is ongoing.
- The lab ordered the reagent for automatic extraction since last September.