Caribbean News
Delta Variant confirmed in TCI says Ministry of Health
#TurksandCaicos, August 4, 2021 – Turks and Caicos is advised to keep the guard up, as the Delta Variant has now been detected in the country and at least three of the cases are from Community spread. One case is imported.
Turks and Caicos sent eight samples to the Caribbean Public Health Agency lab in Trinidad and Tobago to test for the Delta Variant; 50 per cent or four of the results came back positive for what is described as the most infectious variant of Covid-19.
The information came in a Sunday press release and, after all of the individuals who would have had the variant are completed their quarantines and are now recovered from the coronavirus. One of the cases is imported, detected in a tourist who was unvaccinated.
The three others were local; so there was community spread of the Delta confirmed Health Minister, E. Jay Saunders. Of the four cases one person was fully vaccinated; the individual was from the local community.
The Delta variant is so infectious that it is not only being contracted by fully vaccinated individuals but is being spread by them according to some data.
Advice is for the fully vaccinated to continue to wear masks; mask wearing mandates in the Turks and Caicos are still a part of the health regulations, so it remains the law to don face coverings.
Turks and Caicos has so far been confirmed with three of four Viruses of Concern or VOCs. The UK strain or Alpha; the Brazilian strain or Gamma and now the India strain, also known as Delta.
The announcement about the detection of the Delta strain came as the Turks and Caicos finds itself a mere three percentage points away from having 70 per cent of residents fully vaccinated.
According to the Minister of Health on Sunday, 67 per cent of residents are now vaccinated for the Coronavirus. Some 71 per cent have had one jab.
Grand Turk up to Monday had one new case of Covid-19; now at four active cases after spending weeks at zero. Providenciales has 24 cases of the Coronavirus active. Hospitalizations remain at zero in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Meanwhile, details from a CDC report have emerged with striking and concerning findings about this new “fittest and fastest” coronavirus variant.
The Delta variant is as contagious as the chicken pox, spreads as easily as the common cold and Ebola and has a longer transmission window and viral loads in fully vaccinated and unvaccinated people are almost identical which means the vaccine is not slowing this variant down.
The CDC report and its findings are the subject of numerous stories by leading global news organisations.
The medical community is scrambling for a tactical response to the data as the CDC appears to flip-flop on its messages about coping with Covid.
Older people are seriously at risk, even if they are vaccinated – for hospitalization and for death with the advancement of the Delta.
Among the 162 million Americans vaccinated; 35,000 are symptomatic due to Delta.
The fear now is that these findings will undermine confidence in the vaccines.
One study found that 74 percent of the new infections were in fully vaccinated people; cutting down the “miracle” mantra pitched about the 7-month old vaccines.
The experts still say the best defence against the Delta strain of the coronavirus is the vaccine. There is now discussion about a booster shot to fight off the Delta Variant.
By Deandrea Hamilton | Magnetic Media
October 14, 2025 – It’s being called political theatre — but for citizens, constitutional watchdogs, and democracy advocates across the Caribbean, it feels far more serious. Within a single week, two national parliaments — in Trinidad and Tobago and St. Kitts and Nevis — descended into turmoil as opposition members stormed out in protest, accusing their Speakers of bias, overreach, and abuse of parliamentary procedure.
For observers, the walkouts signal a deeper problem: erosion of trust in the very institutions meant to safeguard democracy. When Speakers are viewed as political enforcers instead of neutral referees, parliaments stop functioning as chambers of debate and start performing as stages for power and spectacle — with citizens left wondering who, if anyone, is still accountable.
October 6: St. Kitts Parliament Erupts
The first walkout erupted in Basseterre on October 6, 2025, when Dr. Timothy Harris, former Prime Minister and now Opposition Leader,
led his team out of the St. Kitts and Nevis National Assembly in a protest that stunned the chamber.
The flashpoint came as the Speaker moved to approve more than three years’ worth of unratified parliamentary minutes in one sitting — covering 27 meetings and three national budgets — without individual review or debate.
Dr. Harris called the move “a flagrant breach of the Constitution and parliamentary tradition,” warning that the practice undermines transparency and accountability. “No serious parliament can go years without approving a single set of minutes,” he said after exiting the chamber.
The Speaker defended the decision as administrative housekeeping, but critics were unconvinced, branding the move a “world record disgrace.” The opposition’s walkout triggered renewed calls for the Speaker’s resignation and sparked a wider public discussion about record-keeping, accountability, and respect for parliamentary norms in St. Kitts and Nevis.
October 10: Trinidad Opposition Follows Suit
Four days later, on October 10, 2025, the Opposition United National Congress (UNC) in Trinidad and Tobago staged its own walkout from the House of Representatives in Port of Spain.
The UNC accused the Speaker of partisan bias, claiming she had repeatedly blocked urgent questions, ignored points of order, and allowed government members to breach standing orders without consequence.
“The Speaker has failed in her duty to act impartially,” the Opposition declared in a statement. “Parliament is not the property of any political party or Presiding Officer.”
The dramatic exit was seen as a culmination of months of rising tension and frustration, with opposition MPs arguing that parliamentary rules were being selectively applied to silence dissenting voices.
Political analyst Dr. Marcia Ferdinand described the twin walkouts as “a warning sign that parliamentary democracy in the Caribbean is teetering on the edge of performative politics.”
“When chairs become political shields rather than constitutional referees,” she said, “democracy becomes theatre, not governance.”
A Pattern Emerging
While St. Kitts and Trinidad are very different political environments, both incidents point to the same regional fault line: the perception that Speakers — the guardians of parliamentary order — are no longer impartial.
In Westminster-style systems like those across the Caribbean, the Speaker’s authority depends not on power but on public confidence in fairness. Once that credibility erodes, parliamentary control collapses into confrontation.
Governance experts say the implications are serious: eroded trust between government and opposition, declining public confidence in state institutions, and growing voter cynicism that “rules” are flexible tools of political advantage.
Why It Matters
Parliamentary walkouts are not new in the Caribbean, but what makes these recent events different is their frequency and intensity — and
the regional echo they’ve created. Social media has amplified images of lawmakers storming out, with citizens from Barbados to Belize questioning whether the same erosion of decorum could be happening in their own legislatures.
Analysts warn that if this perception takes hold, it risks diminishing the moral authority of parliamentary democracy itself.
“Once opposition MPs believe the rules are rigged, and once citizens believe Parliament is just performance,” said one Caribbean governance researcher, “you’ve lost the most valuable currency in democracy — trust.”
Restoring Balance
Political reformers across the region are calling for tighter Standing Order enforcement, independent parliamentary service commissions, and training to strengthen Speaker neutrality. Civil society leaders say the public must also play its part by demanding transparency and refusing to normalize partisan manipulation of parliamentary procedure.
Whether these twin walkouts become catalysts for reform — or simply another episode of Caribbean political theatre — will depend on what happens next inside those chambers.
For now, democracy watchers agree on one thing: when opposition leaders feel the only way to be heard is to walk out, the entire democratic house — not just its Speaker — is in danger of collapse.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
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