CARICOM Ministers of Health held an emergency Meeting on the COVID-19 on Wednesday and agreed to the establishment of a Working Group to formulate recommendations/protocols for a possible regional response to the disease.

This second Emergency Meeting of CARICOM’s Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD-Health) was also joined by CARICOM Chairman, Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados and  Secretary-General Ambassador Irwin LaRocque.  It was chaired by Antigua and Barbuda’s Minister of Health Mr Molwyn Joseph.

The Working Group, which has been mandated to meet on Thursday morning,  will include representatives of the CARICOM Secretariat; the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA); CARICOM’s Implementing Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS); the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA); the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) and the Ministers of Health from Grenada and Jamaica.  It will report back to a reconvened Meeting of the COHSOD-Health on Friday afternoon.

The CARICOM Chairman, in proposing the establishment of the Group, urged that it recommends a possible course of action for regional governments to consider.