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La Inmaculada Roman Catholic Church issues a press release after of the death of the 4th COVID-19 victim Carlos Peralta.

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La-Inmaculada-Roman-Catholic-Church-issues-a-press-release-after-of-the-death-of-the-4th-COVID-19-victim-Carlos-Peralta..jpg
La-Inmaculada-Roman-Catholic-Church-issues-a-press-release-after-of-the-death-of-the-4th-COVID-19-victim-Carlos-Peralta..jpg

Dear brothers, after receiving the sad news that the cause of death of our beloved brother, Carlos Peralta, was due to COVID19, we inform you that La Inmaculada Church will be closed until further notice. We ask those who attended Mass on Wednesday and Today Sunday, to please take the proper precautions (quarantine) since our deceased brother participated in Mass on Wednesday and a very close family member today. The priests will also be in quarantine. Thank you very much for your understanding.

PC Still Missing from Joint Patrol

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PC Bernardo Ical Missing in Joint Patrol
PC Bernardo Ical Missing in Joint Patrol

Belmopan. September 4, 2020. 2:15 p.m.

The Ministry of National Security is currently engaged in an all-out search in the area between Machaquila and San Jose, Hawaii for a missing member of a joint BDF/Police Border Patrol.

On September 3, 2020, at 8:00 a.m. the patrol commander reported that PC Bernard Ical did not arrive at the rendezvous point in San Jose, Hawaii along with the remainder of the patrol.

For their safety, the patrol was recalled from Machaquila due to the pending threat of Hurricane Nana. According to the patrol commander, PC Ical had gone ahead of the rest of the patrol around 10:00 a.m. on September 2nd. The remainder left shortly after; however, they did not catch up with him and upon arriving at San Jose, Hawaii around midnight, they realised that he did not arrive at that location. The patrol waited until 8:00 a.m. expecting that PC Ical would show up. Thereafter, they reported that he was missing.

Search parties comprising of BDF, including the BDF Air Wing, and police have been deployed, and Guatemalan counterparts have been notified in case he may have mistakenly wandered into Guatemala.Ends

COVID 19 UPDATE 296 positive cases total

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86 new positive COVID-19 cases in Belize08-12-2020
86 new positive COVID-19 cases in Belize08-12-2020

86 new cases of COVID-19 was traced

The data was gathered in two different batches that resulted in a total of 257 samples that was administered on Wednesday August 12.

The full breakdown is as follows –

A total of 86 samples are positive with geographic breakdown as follows:

– 1 case in Corozal (contact of a previous case)
– 2 in Caye Caulker
– 6 in Belize City
– 8 cases in Stann Creek District (2 related to previous identified case in Stann Creek and 6 as imported cases)
– 28 in Orange Walk (mostly related to construction site in San Pedro)
– 41 in San Pedro

The majority of these cases are related to previously identified cases and underscores the value of contact tracing that continues.

We have to commend the tireless work of the staff on the ground that remains alert and actively seeking more cases and the tireless effort of health staff.

Throughout the day tomorrow, we will be providing further details of the cases.

Note that the infographic now has the cases for San Pedro separately, the cases for Caye Caulker would be included in the Belize District tally.

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Orange Walk Town Council COVID 19 Prevention Act

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The Orange Walk Town Council are applying the following in preventing the spread of the COVID-19. Orange Walk residents, please abide by the following bulletin news:

OWTC COVID —19 Prevention Plan
Tuesday March 24, 2020. After the announcement of the first case of COVID — 19 in Belize, the Orange Walk Town Council will now implement Phase 2 of the Action Plan. The measures in Phase 2 will be put in effect as of March 25th 2020 and they include the following:
1. All Parks and Playgrounds will beano access area to children and the entire General Public. CHILDREN ARE TO REMAIN AT HOME
2. The Orange Walk Municipal Traffic Authority (OWMTA) will now be processing RENEWALS ONLY. These RENEWALS will be applied via Whatsapp #663-0886 and thereafter a notification will be sent to customers to come to pay and pick up for transactions.
3. The OWTC and the OWMTA will be working on a skeleton staff
4. Collection of taxes will continue at our offices but encourage the use of online deposit to Belize bank account number 1139 700 1012 0001
5. The usual Garbage collection schedule will now be reduced and only Household Garbage will be Picked up. Businesses will be serviced as per normal.
6. The general public is ask. to BAG all Domestic Garbage. The BURNING OF GARBAGE IS NOT ALLOWED.
7. All Business owners are clearly ask to clearly mark 6 feet markings where customers are to stand in line so customers can adhere to the prescribed Social Distancing.Personnel are asked to ensure that customers follow the markings put in place.
8. Residents are advised to send only one family member to purchase necessary items if needs arise.
9. Business owners are asked to close their main doors at 6 pm daily and thereafter provide services only via window until their prescribed closing times.
10. Business owners are asked to use their discretions with regards to the number they allow within their store.
11. All Liquor license holders are asked not to sell liquor after 6pm.
These new measures have been put in place to safeguard our employees and the general Public and some recommendations were brought up at Orange Walk Multi Agency Task Force meeting held today.We ask that residents adhere to the Government and the above listed measures to reduce the spread of the COVID-19

-End-

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62,363 unemployment relief applications received under Phase 2

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62,363 unemployment relief applications received under phase 2 1
62,363 unemployment relief applications received under phase 2 1

Update on Unemployment Relief Program

The total number of applications received under Phase 2 of the COVID-19 Unemployment Relief Program (URP) as of this morning, September 14, was 62,363. Of these, 20,197 applications have been approved and 18,364 payments were sent to National Bank of Belize for disbursement up to the end of last Friday. The remainder, which were approved during the past weekend, will be sent this morning.

In Phase 2, the National Bank of Belize has replaced the Social Security Board as the paying agent, so payments are now being made directly from bank to bank. Payments are now totally electronically processed, and the level of rejected payments has declined significantly. A total of 652 payments have been rejected so far and over a hundred have been rectified.

Applicants who have received a text message indicating that their deposit was rejected are reminded to follow through on the process for rectifying their banking information so that payments can be properly processed. Applicants should ask their bank how to set out their bank account number, including any transit codes that may be needed, in order to receive electronic payments.

Payments are normally credited electronically to applicants’ bank accounts on the same day the payment instructions are sent to National Bank. Payments to credit union accounts are also sent on the same day; however, it may take 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 up to three working days to prepare the cards, and an additional three to four working days for the cards 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 re-used. Please hold on to your card.

As of this week, delivery of Phase 2 TopUp cards will be done through the Labour Department offices across the country. Approved applicants will be notified when the card has been prepared and it 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 message to Heritage Bank and receive their PIN to activate their TopUp card.

The public should note that there still remain about 1,000 TopUp cards at Social Security Board offices for persons approved under Phase 1 of URP that have not been picked up. Efforts are being made to reach each affected person individually so that they may pick up these cards from Social Security Offices by the end of this month. Only these last cards remaining from Phase 1 are at Social Security Board offices. No Phase 2 cards can be picked up from Social Security Board offices.

Over 11,000 applications have been excluded where applicants:

Are BOOST recipients; Receive Government or Social Security Pension; Applied as “long term unemployed” in Phase 1 – that category is not available in phase 2; Are below the age of 18; Appear in Social Security Board records as deceased persons; or Have identified an employer that says they do not, or have never worked at their business establishment.

Applicants are reminded that if they receive a message that they have been excluded 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.

The public is also reminded that Government of Belize’s covid19.bz website allows all applicants to check on the status of their application by following this link: https://payment.covid19.gov.bz/paymentstatus. Applicants are invited to use this platform to check the status of their application at any time.

Prime Minister Barrow update on Covid-19

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Prime Minister Barrow update on Covid-19

Prime Minister Barrow will be hosting a live video on the government Facebook Page.

You can watch the live feed here:

https://www.facebook.com/GOBPressOffice
https://www.facebook.com/GOBPressOffice/videos/519949668887038

Update on Unemployment Relief Program

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Update on Unemployment Relief Program
Update on Unemployment Relief Program

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.

52 NEW COVID-19 CASES

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52 NEW COVID-19 CASES 09-24-2020
52 NEW COVID-19 CASES 09-24-2020

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.

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Overturned Tanker Spill Oils in Ladyville

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Tanker Overturned in Ladyville
Tanker Overturned in Ladyville

A Tanker truck overturned at the Mirage Road Junction in the Ladyville area, and resulted in an oil spill on the highway. Currently they are men working on trying to clean up the oil spills using sand berms that spill over on the highway. More details will be provided when is available.

26 More Persons Detected with COVID-19 Symptoms

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26 More Persons Detected with COVID-19 Symptoms 08-17-2020
26 More Persons Detected with COVID-19 Symptoms 08-17-2020

A further 164 samples were processed today with the breakdown as follows – 23 samples were positive in this infographic (includes the 4 reported yesterday)

– Orange Walk – 1
– Corozal – 4
– Cayo – 4 (3 in Belmopan – health care workers)
– Belize 14 (6 in San Pedro, the remaining in Belize City)

Three persons have recovered today.

There are currently 6 patients at the KHMH (3 are intubated).

Continue to remain safe by practicing physical distancing and overall good hygienic practices.

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