Politics
Curfews to be extended and expanded
(CNS): As the battle to suppress COVID-19 in the Cayman community continues, alongside the news of a future mass testing campaign, Premier Alden McLaughlin said he is also extending and expanding the curfews. The hard evening curfew, which is due to end Friday, will be extended for two more weeks, while the soft curfew will […]
Businesses still causing curfew trouble
(CNS): Many business owners are still not heeding the message that, aside from essential workers, the only people who should be working in Cayman at the moment should be doing so at home. Premier Alden McLaughlin expressed his frustrations again on Wednesday that some commercial operations are breaching the COVID-19 curfew conditions and said he […]
Economy not a priority ‘right now’
(CNS): Premier Alden McLaughlin has said that government’s priority is to get Cayman to stay home, contain the potential spread of COVID-19 and save lives, and the economy is not the focus now. Over the last few days he has repeatedly responded to questions about how government will help the business community, saying that while […]
Civil service locks down, goes remote
(CNS): All but essential workers in the public sector are now observing the ‘shelter in place’ directive, with most offices closed to the public and civil servants working from home where possible. On Wednesday, phones were still being manned and online services being provided remotely, as the government continued its battle with the private sector […]
Gov’t preps to deal with ‘lean times’
(CNS): Premier Alden McLaughlin said government is discussing a range of measures to protect the Cayman Islands, not just from the health crisis presented by the COVID-19 pandemic but the economic one as well and the “very lean times ahead”. Warning of tough times and a significant downturn in business, the premier said talks this […]
Breach of gathering ban could mean jail
(CNS): Government has said that it is serious about the ban on public gatherings where more than 50 people are in the same place at the same time. The ban aims to slow down and limit the inevitable spread of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, in Cayman. People breaching it, unless in an exempted place such […]
Princess deals another blow to cruise ports
(CNS): Princess Cruises issued a statement Thursday morning that it was cancelling all of its cruises around the world until 10 May in the face of the global outbreak of COVID-19, a move that will further batter the Cayman Islands’ short-term, and possibly long-term, tourism outlook. At the public meeting on the coronavirus situation Tuesday […]
COVID-19 will drag Cayman economy down
(CNS): A significant outbreak of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, in the Cayman Islands could have a “devastating effect” on the economy as well as people’s health, Premier Alden McLaughlin said at the Fidelity Cayman Economic Outlook 2020 conference. It would “precipitate a drop in predicted economic growth” resulting from a drop-off in discretionary consumption and […]
Premier resigned to port project going south
(CNS): Premier Alden McLaughlin has made his most definitive statement yet accepting that the cruise berthing project is “almost certain” to have been lost following the latest court decision. Accepting no responsibility for the $9 million spent on pushing the controversial project, even in the face of clear popular opposition, McLaughlin said he found it […]
Panton finally quits PPM
(CNS): The former financial services and environment minister, Wayne Panton, has walked away from the Progressives, despite being a founding member and financial backer of the party for many years. In a brief statement to CNS, Panton said that recent events had made a hard decision a lot easier. Often at odds with his former […]
Opposition throws Bryan out
(CNS): The official opposition has thrown MLA Kenneth Bryan (GTC) out of the group after he refused to support the rest of the members in their efforts to convene a special meeting of the Legislative Assembly. Despite calls by the public for House Speaker McKeeva Bush to resign over his admission of a violent assault […]
