The BDF and other forces was deployed on the western border with Guatemala as a preventative measure. This is in response to block a caravan of a large number of Honduran migrants entering through Guatemala and on their way to the United States. There are no reports indicating these migrants will be venturing through our borders, however, immigration and security forces are on standby as a precautionary measure.
A total of 179 samples were processed today with 54 new cases identified.
They are distributed as follows:
Corozal: 21 (12 Town, 3 San Andres, 1 Chan Chen, 2 Santa Clara, 2 San Joaquin, 1 Concepcion)
Orange Walk: 11 (4 Town, 1 Yo Creek, 2 Trial Farm, 1 San Jose Palmar, 1 from Ladyville, 1 Tower Hill, 1 San Pablo)
Belize: 21 (7 City, 4 KOLBE, 3 Ladyville, 4 from San Jose OW, 1 from Tower Hill OW, 1 from Xaibe CZ, 1 from Cristo Rey CZ)
Cayo: 1 In Belmopan
We have 18 recovered cases.
Unfortunately we have another death to report, this is in a female from Corozal who was rushed to KHMH in a critical state but died. Diagnosis was made post-mortem.
Two patients remain intubated at KHMH’s ICU and three others on supplementary oxygen.
Continue Be Safe And Practice Social Distancing
The total number of applications received under Phase 2 of the COVID-19 Unemployment Relief Program as of this morning, September 28, is 64,252. Of these, 30,544 applications have been approved, all of which have been sent to the National Bank of Belize for payment.
Total applications received 64,252Number on Excluded list 13,019Applicants requested to make corrections 3,447Applications remaining to be reviewed 17,243Total approvals so far 30,544.
Applicants can check the status of their application using the following link on the Government of Belize’s covid19.bz website: https://payment.covid19.gov.bz/paymentstatus/. To seek information and clarification on their applications, applicants can also send an email to [email protected].
Rejected payments
In Phase 2, the level of rejected payments continues to be significantly lower than in Phase 1 with a total of 973 payments rejected so far. Of these, 499 applicants have provided corrected banking information and have been successfully paid.
Applicants who have received a text message indicating that their deposit was rejected are reminded to follow through on the process for correcting their banking information so that payments can be successfully processed. Please ask your bank how to set out your bank account number, including any transit codes that may be needed, in order to receive electronic payments.
Applicants are advised to use bank and credit union accounts in their own name and to avoid using accounts in the name of other persons. When corrected banking information is submitted, please remember to include, in addition to the bank account number, your name and social security number to ensure you can be properly identified.
Processing of Payments by National Bank of Belize
The National Bank sends through electronic payments to approved applicants’ accounts on the same day that payment instructions are received. Applicants who use their commercial bank accounts will normally see payments in their accounts on the same day. Payments to credit union accounts are also sent on the same day, but it normally takes a few working days for the credit unions to manually post deposits to their members’ accounts.
In the case of TopUp prepaid cards, it takes several working days to prepare the TopUp cards, and an additional three to four days for the card to be taken to the location nearest to the applicant for pick up. Persons who received Unemployment Relief payments via TopUp cards in Phase 1 are reminded that, if they are approved again in Phase 2, the same TopUp card can be reused. Applicants are advised to hold on to their cards. When requesting a TopUp Card, please do not select “direct deposit” as your method of payment. Select ONLY “TopUp Card” as your method of payment.
Delivery of TopUp Cards
Delivery of Phase 2 TopUp cards is being done through the Labour Department offices across the country. Approved applicants will be notified when the card has been prepared and is available for pick up at the Labour Department Office that is in the district in which you live. Recipients of TopUp cards are reminded that they will need to present a valid identification card in order to collect their TopUp card. They will also need to use the same telephone number they provided on their application to send a text to Heritage Bank in order to receive their PIN to activate their TopUp card.
Excluded Applications
As of today, 13,019 applications are on a list of exclusions. These are applications from persons who fall under one of the following categories:
1. BOOST recipients
2. Receive Government or Social Security Pension
3. Applied as “long-term unemployed” in Phase 1 — that category is not available in phase 2
4. Are below the age of 18
5. Appear in the Social Security Board database as deceased persons; or
6. Have identified an employer that says the applicant did not work at their business establishment and follow up verification does not adequately clarify the situation.
Applicants are reminded that if they check their status and see that they have been excluded for the reasons stated above, and feel that this is an error, they may provide additional information by sending an email to [email protected] so that their application can be reviewed. Even as additional applicants have been automatically added to the excluded list, hundreds have been removed once the information is provided.
Period covered by Phase 2
Phase 2 of Unemployment Relief was intended to cover the three-month period August to October. All efforts are being made to ensure that all six payments are processed for all approved applicants by the end of October. For those who are being approved later in Phase 2, there will be some acceleration of payments as we come to the end of Phase 2, similar to what took place at the end of Phase 1.
Fake COVID-19 Messages
The public is advised that there are text messages coming from an unknown source informing person that funds have been deposited into their bank accounts. In the instances where this has been brought to our attention, these persons have not applied for Unemployment Relief, but leave their homes to go to Government Offices to follow up on what appears to be unsolicited offers of money. These messages are not coming from the Government of Belize’s Unemployment Relief Program (URP) and, therefore, should be disregarded.
A total of 252 tests were processed today with 29 new cases identified.
The distribution is as follows:
Corozal – 14 (7 in town, 1 Louisville, 1 Progresso, 1 San Andres, 1 Caledonia, 1 Libertad, 1 Chan Chen, 1 Chunox)
Belize – 4 (3 in city, 1 from Calcutta in Corozal)
Cayo – 5 (all in Belmopan)
Stann Creek – 1 (Bella Vista)
Toledo – 5 (all from Big Falls)
We have 31 cases recovered so that our active cases now stand at 34.2% of the total cases.
This week follow our activities on this and other social media forums to address the topic of chronic diseases and its link to COVID-19.
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A total of 311 tests were processed with 50 new cases identified.
They are distributed as follows: Orange Walk – 25 (9 Town, 4 Carmelita, 4 Trinidad, 1 August Pine Ridge, 1 San Antonio, 2 San Lazaro, 1 Guinea Grass, 1 Trial Farm, 1 Yo Creek, 1 from Toledo District)
Belize – 11 (7 City, 1 Ladyville, 1 Rhaburn Ridge, 1 Maskall, 1 from Carmelita in OW)
Cayo – 13 (3 San Ignacio, 3 San Jose Succotz, 3 Belmopan, 3 Unitedville, 1 Ontario)
Toledo- 1 Laguna
We have a total of 62 recovered cases.
Unfortunately we have another death to report, this is in a male in his late 70s who had been admitted at KHMH’s ICU.
Our percentage of active cases now stands at 36% of total confirmed cases.
Initial reports indicate a private plane coming from the state of Louisiana,in the U.S landed at the PGIA.
The deportees were tested for the COVIDI-19 and were then taken to an isolated area in the Cayo district.
This is our data for today.
A total of 300 samples were processed today with 52 new cases identified today.
They are distributed as follows:
Toledo – 1 (Big Falls)
Cayo – 9 (2 Belmopan, 5 San Ignacio, 1 Santa Elena, 1 Armenia)
Belize – 11 (10 San Pedro, 1 Ladyville)
Orange Walk – 15 (4 Town, 2 Yo Creek, 1 Trial Farm, 2 Nuevo San Juan, 1 San Lazaro, 1 from Corozal Town but swabbed in OW, 4 from Toledo but swabbed in OW)
Corozal – 16 (10 Town, 1 Chan Chen, 1 Carolina, 1 Xaibe, 1 Santa Clara, 1 Libertad & 1 from OW)
We have had 53 recoveries so that we now have 37.7% of our cases active.
We have two patients that remaining critically ill at KHMH’s ICU.
Our surveillance team has also picked up 3 cases of co-infection with dengue, this is something that had been described in the region and something we had been looking out for given the added layer of complication this can bring. We will continue to monitor these particular situations across the country.
Follow MOE To Stay Updated
A total of 193 tests were conducted today with a total of 34 new cases identified.
The distribution is as follows:Corozal District – 9 (7 in town, 1 Consejo, 1 San Andres)
Orange Walk District – 15 (3 in town, 3 Trinidad, 1 San Pablo, 1 San Jose, 1 Nuevo San Juan, 1 Chan Pine Ridge, 1 Guinea Grass, 1 San Luis, 1 San Lazaro, 1 from San Roman in Corozal, but identified in OW and 2 from Hiccattee Creek, Toledo but identified in OW)
Belize District – 7 (2 in Belize City, 3 San Pedro, 1 Caye Caulker, 1 from Unitedville identified at KHMH)
Cayo District – 1 (San Jose Succotz)
Stann Creek – 1 (Independence)
Toledo – 1 (from Cayo)
We have one more death to report (not reflected in infographic as this is just being confrimed) – this is in a male in his 30s from the Cayo District who had been at the ICU of KHMH for over two weeks now
We have 37 recoveries to report
Our active cases stand at 38.5% of the total identified positive cases.
Follow MOH Health to stay updated.
Belize has been granted independence on 21 September 1981. Guatemala refused to identify the brand new nation due to its longstanding territorial dispute with the British colony, claiming that Belize belonged to Guatemala. About 1,500 UK troops remained in Belize to prevent any feasible incursions.
With Price at the helm, the PUP won all national elections till 1984. For that election, the initial nationwide election after independence, the PUP has been defeated by the United Democratic Party (UDP). UDP leader Manuel Esquivel replaced Price as the Prime minister, with Price himself suddenly dropping his own House seat to an UDP contender. The PUP under Price returned to power following elections in 1989. The next year the UK announced that it would end its armed service involvement in Belize, and the RAF Harrier detachment had been withdrawn within 12 months, having remained stationed in country constantly since its deployment had become long term in Belize since 1980. British soldiers were withdrawn in 1994, however the United Kingdom left an military training team to help with the recently created Belize Defence Force.
The UDP regained power in the 1993 national election, and Esquivel became prime minister for another time. Soon later on, Esquivel introduced the suspension of a pact with Guatemala during Price’s tenure, declaring Price had made way too many concessions to get Guatemalan acknowledgement. The pact could have curtailed the 130-year-aged border dispute between two countries. Border tensions continuing in to the early 2000s, even though two nations cooperated in the areas.
The PUP won a landslide victory in the 1998 national elections, and PUP innovator Said Musa was sworn in as prime minister. In the 2003 elections the PUP maintained its majority, and Musa continued as prime minister. He pledged to fix issues in the underdeveloped and mostly inaccessible southern section of Belize.
In 2005, Belize was area of unrest due to discontent with the PUP government, including tax increases in the nationwide budget. On 8 February 2008, Dean Barrow was sworn in as the Prime minister after his party received a landslide victory in the general elections. Barrow and the UDP had been re-elected in 2012 with a substantially smaller majority. Barrow carried the UDP to a 3rd consecutive general election victory in November 2015, growing the party’s amount of chairs from 17 to 19. Nevertheless, he mentioned the election will be his final as party head and preparations are under way for the UDP to elect his successor.
A total of 167 tests were processed today.
A total of 21 new cases were identified with breakdown as follows:
Orange Walk District – 10 (5 in OW town, 2 Guinea Grass, 1 San Jose, 1 August Pine Ridge, 1 from Toledo but swabbed/isolated in OW)
Belize District – 4 (1 in Ladyville, 3 San Pedro)
Cayo District – 5 (3 San Ignacio, 1 Bullet Tree Falls, 1 Santa Familia)
Toledo District – 2 (1 Laguna, 1 Big Falls)
There were 42 recovered cases.
Unfortunately we have another death to report, this is an elderly female from Orange Walk District who had been symptomatic but had not been diagnosed, this person died at home and the diagnosis was made post-mortem.
Our active cases are now down to 42.3% of the total cases.
Our case fatality rate in Belize is currently 1.29%.
As we go into Independence Day and some level of celebrations, we encourage all to please be responsible in doing so as we do have a curve to flatten.
