And the new health CEO will have to deal with the latest COVID variant, which is the Omicron Virus.
And she'll have to do so right when the government is opening the land borders. That is set for early 2022, and it is still going ahead - according to the PM - regardless of any new viral threat.
He discussed the measures they will take today:
Hon. John Briceno - Prime Minister
"We are preparing, the minister of immigration came to bring a paper last week for us to be able to give to provide more immigration officers at the airport and at the borders. The ministry of health yesterday told us that they are also preparing to ensure that they have enough people at the border facilitate the fast movement of visitors coming to the land border but we have to continue to be vigilant, there's not other way, you have to make sure you're vaccinated, make sure you do your tests, I saw today on the news in the US they are saying to come to the US you have to have a test within 24 hours, we were saying 72 hours. We may have to always be making those adjustments but we have to speak to both the minister of tourism and the minister of health for us to be able to see whether it's a decision we also need to make in Belize."
A RELEASE from the MINISTRY OF HEALTH SAYS:
"The team at the Ministry of Health & Wellness (MOHW) in collaboration with the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group and the COVID-19 Medical Advisory Group are carefully monitoring the situation. The MOHW has alerted its health teams in the districts and advised for increased surveillance of possible cases of concern. Additionally, the ministry is in communication with Baylor College of Medicine and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention to ensure that the Central Medical Laboratory is equipped with the necessary agents to identify the variant."
The Government of Belize is currently not considering any flight bans. At this time there are no direct flights into Belize from any southern African countries, and many larger countries have already implemented public health measures that include flight bans on approximately seven southern African nations." End quote.
