Archive for December, 2020
37 COVID-19 cases since start of month
(CNS): With one more COVID-19 positive test emerging in results announced on Friday, there have now been 37 cases of the virus recorded among travellers in quarantine this month alone. This latest case was in a batch of 417 samples processed over the last day, the rest of which were negative. The traveller is said […]
OAG: Budgets are opaque and complex
(CNS): The government’s budget process is neither effective nor transparent and needs significant improvement to make it more simple and accountable, the auditor general has said in her latest report. Sue Winspear said that limited progress has been made in addressing the concerns her office has raised for more than seven years about how government […]
School PE teacher hit by car in critical condition
(CNS): Cayman International School’s physical education teacher at the primary school is in hospital in critical condition after he was run down on the West Bay road Wednesday evening. As he was crossing the road with his dog at around 6pm, Greg Simcoe was hit by a Toyota Hiace van near Cemetery Beach at the […]
Active COVID-19 cases increase to 26
(CNS): There are now 26 active cases of COVID-19 in Cayman after another two people tested positive for the virus. Chief Medical Officer Dr John Lee said 352 coronavirus tests were carried out over the last day and the rest were negative. The two positive samples were asymptomatic travellers. There are five people currently said […]
Skylar and VJ now appealing jail time
(CNS): Skylar Mack (18) and Vanjae “VJ” Ramgeet (24) have applied to the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal after crown prosecutors successfully overturned a Summary Court sentence for their conviction for breaching COVID-19 quarantine rules and had the couple sent to jail. Defence attorney Jonathan Hughes from Samson Law told CNS that the president of […]
Inflation falling but food prices increase
(CNS): The overall cost of living fell by 1.6% in the third quarter of 2020 compared to 2019, but that doesn’t mean Cayman Islands residents are seeing prices come down in general, despite the economic challenges of COVID-19. While costs have declined in some sectors, when it comes to food and telephone costs, shoppers are […]
Brackers kick back on chopper-base plan
(CNS): Activists on Cayman Brac are fighting a proposal by a private aviation company that is planning to set up a mysterious helicopter operation near the island’s airport at an environmentally sensitive location. Daggaro was recently given planning permission for a hanger and related administration building, from where the owners say they will run medevac […]
UK drafts public BO order but happy with status quo
(CNS): The UK government has now drafted an order-in-council regarding the introduction of public registers of beneficial ownership in the overseas territories. But foreign office minister Wendy Morton said in a written statement to the UK parliament recently that, given the commitments made by all the UK Overseas Territories, there is no need to enact […]
One time PWD intern climbs to the top
(CNS): Troy Whorms, who started his civil service career as a summer intern at the Public Works Department, will take over as acting director in January. Whorms has spent almost all of his public sector career dealing with government infrastructure, and the chief officer in the ministry responsible for PWD said his experience and education […]
CAL adds Cuba and Barbados flights
(CNS): Cayman Airways Limited (CAL) has added two repatriation flights to Cuba and two charter flights to Barbados. The first Havana flight is on Saturday, 19 December, followed by one on 9 January. Both flights will depart Grand Cayman at 1:25pm on the respective Saturday and return the same day, leaving Havana at 4pm. The […]
Six more travellers COVID-19 positive
(CNS): Another six people have tested positive for COVID-19 from a batch of 394 tests carried out over the last day, Chief Medical Officer Dr John Lee has said. None of this latest group carrying the virus are symptomatic and they are all travellers currently in isolation. There are now 25 active cases of the […]
