President Jovenel Moïse declared a state of emergency over the weekend as Haiti experiences what officials say may be a new, deadlier wave of the coronavirus being blamed for the deaths of at least three public figures so far.
“The government declares a state of health emergency for eight days,” President Jovenel Moïse tweeted Saturday. “Today, more than ever, respecting the restrictions is imposed on everyone.”
Prominent figures Pastor Emmanuel Sannon, Chesnel Pierre and Frantz Gérard Verret died of COVID-19 symptoms over the weekend, according to local reports. Ex-senator Jean Robert Bossé also tested positive.
Pierre was a former general director of the National Old Age Insurance Office (ONA) and Verret was the president of the provisional electoral council between 2007 and 2009.
Haiti has been seeing about 70 new coronavirus infection cases per day, on average, Moïse said last week. The English and Brazilian variants were detected in Haiti, officials said.
Haiti also accepted 130,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine last week, but there’s no word yet of when the vaccine will arrive.
( THE HAITIAN TIMES)
