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The W-H-O Director General said, quote, "Several countries have demonstrated that this virus can be suppressed and controlled" end quote.

So, is Belize one of them? So far, we have been lucky. No one has come up positive in Belize after a number of suspected persons - all foreigners - were tested yesterday.

Today in Belmopan the Ministry of Health's team held a press briefing on Facebook to outline the current situation and answer community questions:

Dr. Marvin Manzanero - Director of Health Services
"I can say that right that we don't have any confirmed cases of COVID 19. We did processes some suspect cases, suspect samples yesterday, all those were negative for COVID 19. So we don't have any confirmed case in Belize up until now. The 7 samples processed yesterday, all of them were negative and they were from different nationalities. In terms of travel because people keep asking us, the common question is okay can I travel for Easter. We don't know, that is a very volatile situation and things can change, it depends on where you're going to go. Of the 7 cases that we tested yesterday, all of them were tourists or visiting for a specific reason and none of them where nationals. We are testing two other nationals today. Honduras as we know have 2 imported cases, we don't have any ongoing transmission in Honduras, so again, countries of interest are really countries where you have ongoing transmission. Mexico for example has 7 reported cases; they have no ongoing transmission in the community. Costa Rica had a cluster, a small group of persons that would be having COVID 19, no transmission thatâ€â„¢s ongoing in the community"

So, what about mass gatherings, and what about school - should you keep sending your child?  Manzanero said they are not discouraging either at this time:

Dr. Marvin Manzanero
"This point in time we are not recommending the cancellation of mass events. If we are to have any local transmission happening in Belize, then those events will be revisited but that's not happening right now."

Dr. Russell Manzanero - Epidmiologist
"At this point we are not stressing on any kind of, we're not saying anything avoiding mass gatherings, it's just at this point we're asking that all should be aware of what they're doing and implements those prevention measures. Facilities and schools, I think everybody should be aware of those prevention messages and training between faculty and the information to the children and others should be already done. I know we have met Ministry of Education and they're having a handwashing and cough etiquette day that is to come. This is what should be done; everybody should already have a plan of what is happen at your schools in event that any staff or any child should become ill. Of course, our recommendations for any flu, is not only in this case but any influenza cases, if you are to become ill then you know the measures there is to stay at home. So the staff or the teacher, the student should be removed and they should be at home and take their own precautions at home and of course implement the handwashing and the correct hygiene and the respiratory etiquette when you're coughing, you cough in your sleeves, that kind of thing should already be implemented. As Michelle had mentioned, the disinfection of services, that should be ongoing and the availability of all schools should be with adequate hand soap and hand sanitisers throughout the entire facilities."

And, what about cruise ships? Should we still be letting them into our waters? Well, the US Department of State this weekend put out an advisory saying, quote, "U.S. citizens, particularly travellers with underlying health conditions, should not travel by cruise ship (due to) increased risk of infection of COVID-19 in a cruise ship environment." End quote.

So, should we be letting them into our Port with the known risks that these ships can act as infection incubators? Here's what the Public Health specialist had to say today:

John Bodden - Principal Public Health Inspector
"In regards to cruise ships, we have been accepting cruise ships to the country. In fact what we have been following in terms of the clearance is actually the flow chart for the screening of individuals who are on the ship. We just want people to know that we do have in place a 24 hour screening that occurs before the ship arrives in country and basically, what we're looking for at that point is, whether the ship has any risk for the country and so we look at both the crew and the passenger and whether those individuals are ill. Subsequently to that, we do have a boarding of the clearance group and this is followed by a secondary screening and again we look at what is the progression of the individuals, the crew and the passenger on that ship. Has there been any additional illness, so we do look at those conditions that are exhibited by both the crew and the passengers and based on that, then we make a determination as to whether those people are safe enough to come to shores."

We note that Jamaica has been turning back cruise ships, with its Minister of Health recently quoted as saying "We value the cruise industry and the benefits that it brings in terms of the tourists that come... but at this point in time, the reality is that the health and safety of the Jamaican people and population in light of the coronavirus is an absolute priority." End quote.

We note also that El Salvador's president has imposed a national quarantine that prohibits any foreigners from entering the Central American country for 30 days to try to keep out the new coronavirus. President Nayib Bukele also said public and private schools would be closed for 21 days. El Salvador has no confirmed cases of the virus.

Guatemala also announced today that it would not allow Europeans or citizens from China, Iran and North and South Korea to enter the country. It also has no confirmed cases.