MOH steps up efforts on ChikV & Dengue
The Ministry of Health told RTC News that they are continuing efforts to prevent the further spread of dengue and chikungunya, through public education and enhanced vector control activities throughout the TCI.
Ms. Higgs added that it is important to protect yourself and your family; she added the team at the MOH is advising the public to take the following precautions:
*Use air conditioning or window/door screens
*Use mosquito repellents on exposed skin
*Wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants
*Properly dispose of any old tires since they can breed thousands of mosquitoes
*Clear roof gutters of debris
*Clean pet water/food dishes regularly
*Monitor and empty children’s toys left out in the yard which may accumulate water
*Repair leaky outdoor faucets
*Canoes and boats should be turned over or covered
*Avoid water collecting on pool covers
*Empty water collected in tarps around the yard or on piles of wood
*Plug tree holes
*Cover water drums
*Flower pots/vases, bottles, barrels, buckets, open cesspits, tanks, overturned garbage can lids can collect water and thus breed mosquitoes.
If you are sick with chikungunya or dengue, avoiding mosquito bites will help prevent further spread of the virus.
To treat large bodies of stagnant water on or around your property call the Environmental Health Department at 649-338-2801.
Caicos Express expands fleet
The inaugural flight for the Caicos Express 1900 Beechcraft, will take flight today Monday Oct 5th, 2014.
Managing Director, Richard Arthur spoke with RTC News earlier while final preparations were made.
Mr. Arthur added that originally, Caicos Express started as a small charter company, filling the void with the Aztec 5 seater, before transitioning to the 9 seater Cesnor, which covers the family islands based on the demands of the traveling public.
While many view the carriers growth will mean a hike in rates, not so says the Managing Director; there will be a slight increase, nothing outrageous and which will still see us as the lowest carrier in the TCI.
He says plans are in the works to taken on additional routes, providing alternatives for the traveling public, which will be shared with the public at a later date.
Arthur trold our newsroom that October is a very important month in the company’s history as his team prepares to take the next step in making traveling easier, hassle free & affordable for the TCI travelers, as the 19 seater takes flight to the nations capital with more room in less transit time.
The company is operating with a fleet of 5 planes that covers charters into Nassau, the Dominican Republic and other destinations in the region but will continue to offer more flights between Grand Turk, Salt Cay & Providenciales.
INTERNATIONAL MIGRATORY BIRD DAY, 11 OCTOBER 2014
The Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) will be celebrating a number of activities and competitions in celebration of International Migratory Bird Day, which takes place on Saturday, 11 October 2014.
International Migratory Bird Day 2014 shares the many ways in which birds matter to the earth and its ecosystems.
The TCI Department of Environment and Maritime Affairs (DEMA) is marking the day which is the only international education program that highlights and celebrates the migration of nearly 350 species of migratory birds between nesting habitats in North America and non-breeding grounds in Latin America, Mexico, and the Caribbean.
This year’s International Migratory Bird Day’s theme is ‘Why Birds Matter’. This aims to demonstrate the diversity of birds around the world, the amazing migrations that some take, and the phenomenal range of behaviors, plumages, and songs that they exhibit.
To celebrate their importance DEMA will be hosting the following activities:
Guided bird walk/field trip to the wetlands (11 Oct, 2014; Assembly at 6:30 AM at the Bight Park). Limited binoculars will be loaned out, on a first come first serve basis. (Pre-registration is required)
Free Movie Screening: Titled: Winged Migration (10 Oct, 2014 at 2:00 PM, at the National Environment Centre). (Reservations are required)
Migratory Bird Photography Contest Primary, High School and Adults (Submission deadline: 31 Oct. 2014).
Any individuals or organisations, such as schools parties, can obtain more information, register, reserve a place, or find out how to enter the photography competition by contacting DEMA’s Environment Outreach Coordinator, Amy Avenant, on Tel: 338 4176 or Avenant.amy@gmail.com
TURKS AND CAICOS MINISTRY OF HEALTH EBOLA ADVICE
The Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) Ministry of Health and Human Services (MOHHS) told RTC News that they are continuing with their stringent efforts to evaluate and manage any case of the Ebola virus, in the unlikely event a case occurs in the Territory, it announced today, Monday, 6 October 2014.
“We are aware that the single case of Ebola diagnosed in the USA is of concern there, and also the Caribbean Region,” said Charlene Higgs, Health Educator with the TCI MOHHS. “However, our health professionals have been preparing to respond since the outbreak began.
She added that “The TCI MOHHS efforts are ongoing, and includes stakeholder meetings which are being planned across the islands to help adequately prepare for the potential threat of Ebola. The team at the MOHHS are following the updates on the local, regional and international circuit as to the status of the disease & will share with the general public as the situation develops.
“Although travel to the affected region is not restricted, the MOHHS strongly discourages non-essential travel to Ebola affected areas in West Africa at this time because of the extent of the current virus outbreak. The MOHHS further advises that anyone returning to the TCI from such areas may be subjected to Ebola screening and possible isolation for 21 days as a part of TCI’s enhanced surveillance of this virus”.
The MOHHS is continuing to take the lead in ensuring the public health and safety of the TCI citizens and visitors through:
* Enhanced surveillance and laboratory testing capacity to facilitate early detection of cases
* Developing and or disseminating guidance and tools for health facilities to conduct public health investigations
* Providing recommendations for healthcare infection control and other measures and to ensure health care workers take precautions to use meticulous infection control at all times to prevent disease spread.
* Providing guidance for Customs and Immigration officers about detecting, transporting and reporting ill travellers to the MOHHS
* Disseminating up-to-date information to the general public, international travellers, and public health stakeholders and partners
In addition, the MOHHS would like to advise all persons with a history of recent travel to affected countries to be aware of the signs and symptoms of EVD and to report to a healthcare provider as soon as possible if signs and symptoms of EVD develop within three weeks of having traveled. The MOHHS also encourages the general public to take the following precautions:
* Practice good personal hygiene at all times
* Be aware of the risk factors of Ebola (travel to affected countries, contact with bodily fluids of affected persons)
* Be aware of the signs and symptoms of Ebola
* Seek medical attention early
RTC will have more on this story as it develops locally.
FortisTCI Receives Final Results from Renewable Energy Interconnection Study
A leading commercial and industrial engineering solutions company, Leidos Engineering, LLC (Leidos), recently completed a Renewable Energy Infusion Study for FortisTCI (FTCI), the energy provider in the Turks and Caicos Islands. FortisTCI President & CEO Eddinton Powell said, “We are now one step closer to understanding how and at what level we can integrate renewable energy into our electricity grid. We know that in the future renewable energy will play a role in the energy mix of the Turks and Caicos Islands. It is important that these studies precede any implementation so that we can make the best decisions for our customers, for the Country and the Company. No new forms of generation should reduce the safety and reliability of service, or increase the cost”
The study, commissioned in early 2014, was undertaken to determine the total capacity of intermittent renewable energy that FortisTCI can safely integrate into the electricity grid without compromising system stability.
The final report, completed in August 2014, focused on (non-base load) photovoltaic (PV), often referred to as solar, and wind distributed generation (DG) installations on Grand Turk and Providenciales. The study was limited to these two locations, as a result of the small size of the electricity systems on the other islands. The assessment included both utility scale as well as small capacity (for example, 3 kW) systems.
In the report, Leidos has made a number of recommendations. They include:
· Setting the upper limit of renewable DG, to a maximum of 4.15 MW in Providenciales and 0.34 MW in Grand Turk.
· Setting infusion of renewables on each distribution feeder to no more than the feeder minimum load to avoid system voltage issues.
· Prohibit DG on Grace Bay feeder five because of its impact on operating voltages, unless there are additional system upgrades or improvements.
These are just some of the recommendations made in the report. In addition, Leidos recommends, setting all consumer DG interfaced with the current grid, at existing individual demand (electricity consumption) or less.
The study went on to reveal that it is possible to achieve higher DG penetration, but only with significant investment and upgrades. The report read, “additional analysis is recommended to confirm technically and economically: 1) Altering the generation dispatch and (or) increasing the spinning reserve to provide more margin for system contingencies with DG. 2) Add substation and (or) line regulation to provide more voltage control of the T&D system and take advantage of the available capacity.” Additionally, according to Leidos all DG installations should follow already established international interconnection standards set by professional associations such as, The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Suggested standards include; IEEE 1547, IEEE 929 and UL1741.
FortisTCI is now working to position itself to accept customer-owned solar energy on the electricity grid by the middle of 2015. In order to achieve this goal, it will require FortisTCI and the Turks and Caicos Islands Government to work together to set proper interconnection and metering standards.
TURKS AND CAICOS AUTHORITIES INTERCEPT ILLEGAL HAITIAN IMMIGRATION ATTEMPT
Whistleblower in largest-ever award by US government
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has revealed that it awarded a record $30m (£18m) payout to an anonymous whistleblower who lives outside the US.
It is the largest payment ever given to a whistleblower by regulators.
The SEC said the whistleblower provided crucial information that helped the agency uncover a "difficult to detect" fraud.
According to US law, the identity of the whistleblower must be kept secret.
"This award of more than $30m shows the international breadth of our whistleblower program as we effectively utilise valuable tips from anyone, anywhere to bring wrongdoers to justice," Sean McKessy, chief of the SEC's whistleblower office, said in a statement.
Whistleblowers from all over the world should feel similarly incentivised to come forward with credible information about potential violations of the US securities laws."
New powers
The whistleblower programme is a direct result of the 2010 financial reform legislation in the US known as the Dodd-Frank Act.
That law gave the SEC more powers to incentivise insiders to come forward if they have information about wrongdoing. Prior to Dodd-Frank, the SEC could only reward tipsters who came forward with information about insider trading.
The new law provides whistleblowers with financial rewards if the information they provide to the SEC leads to an enforcement action with sanctions that are above $1m - regardless of the nature of the crime.
The SEC can then award the tipster anywhere between 10% and 30% of the total award.
Prior to the award announced on Monday, the largest ever whistleblower payout was $14m in 2013.
Source- BBC
Caribbean-Mexico to See 10,848 New Hotel Rooms in 2015: Report
The Caribbean-Mexico region will see almost 10,900 new hotel rooms open in 2015, according to the latest hotel development pipeline report from STR.
The region is expected to see 58 hotels totaling 10,848 rooms debut next year.
The largest number of hotels will come from the luxury segment, with an expected total of 2,838 rooms across 10 hotels in the region, followed by the upper midscale segment, which is expected to see 2,287 rooms in 17 hotels opening next year.
The total Caribbean-Mexico hotel pipeline includes 164 hotels comprising 27,621 rooms at present, according to STR.
That represents a 17.7 percent increase in rooms under contract through August.
Through August, a total of 96 new hotels with 14,848 rooms opened their doors in the Caribbean-Mexico region.
Kurds Battle IS in Syria as Refugee Wave Tops 130,000
Kurdish fighters in northern Syria continue to defend a border town from Islamic State militants as the number of area residents fleeing to neighboring Turkey tops 130,000.
The exodus across the border began last week, when the Islamic State launched a ground campaign aimed at Kobane, also known as Ain al Arab.
One Syrian Kurd said he brought his family into Turkey for safety, but was headed back to fight the Islamic State.
"We came here and delivered our wives and children and now we are turning back. We are returning back to fight," he said. "We will fight there until the last drop of our blood. If we lose Kobane it means we lose the Rojova (Syrian Kurdistan) region."
Earlier, Turkish officials say more than 130,000 Syrian Kurds have crossed into Turkey since late last week in order to flee an advance by Islamic State militants.
Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said Monday the government is expecting the number to rise, and is prepared for "the worst case scenario."
"We are prepared for the worst scenario, which is an influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees," Kurtulmus said on Monday in the Turkish capital, Ankara.
Officials pitched tents in the Suleyman Sah Dostluk Park in Turkey, while construction vehicles flattened the ground around the park in preparation for the arrival of more refugees.
Ebola Death Toll Rises, But Virus 'Contained' in Nigeria, Senegal
The World Health Organization says Ebola outbreaks in Nigeria and Senegal appear to have been stopped, though the regional death toll from the disease has climbed past 2,800.
A report from the WHO's Africa office said there have been no new cases of Ebola reported in Nigeria since September 8 and none in Senegal since the country's first and only case was reported on August 29.
It said the outbreaks in both countries "are pretty much contained."
A separate WHO report said Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone continued to report new cases of the disease. It said the total number of cases in West Africa has risen to 5,864 and the number of deaths has increased to 2,811.
It said an unrelated Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has infected 71 people and killed 40.
The numbers do not include 130 new Ebola cases found in Sierra Leone during a three-day nationwide lockdown that ended late Sunday.
The government had ordered the country's six million people to stay home as health workers went door-to-door trying to educate people on how to avoid spreading or contracting Ebola.
Sierra Leone's chief medical officer, Brima Kargbo, told VOA authorities asked people not to hide family members infected with Ebola or to keep corpses in their homes.
"Once we go to a home, we educate people, then they would tell us here we have a person who is ill. And that person is then asked whether he or she is linked to any Ebola-related patient, and once that has been established he or she is taken to a holding center, blood samples are taken and tested, and if they are positive they remain there in the holding center,” said Kargbo.
Sierra Leone's Health Ministry reported it reached 75 percent of its target of visiting 1.5 million homes during the lockdown. Officials said the outreach would continue in communities that have been identified as hot spots across the country.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military said about 60 personnel have arrived in West Africa as part of the U.S. effort to combat Ebola. A spokesman said Monday that another 30 to 40 would arrive on Tuesday.
The United States has committed $175 million to help combat the outbreak and is sending 3,000 troops to the region to build field hospitals and provide logistical aid.
On Monday, the WHO's Ebola emergency committee called for an end to flight cancellations and travel restrictions to the Ebola zone. It said these measures hampered international relief efforts and hurt the countries' economies.