2020 – Page 3

Medics are forecasting a considerable surge in Covid-19 infections for January 2021. The spikes are expected given that Dominicans are meeting family and friends for the Christmas and New Year holidays. In public spaces, mask-wearing is the norm, not so in gatherings in restaurants and at homes. The gatherings are common for the wealthy and …

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Every year hundreds of thousands of people leave getting their vehicle’s permit to circulate for the last minute. Queuing up in line and paying the fines makes no sense when the government gives many weeks to pay the circulation tax or “marbete.” Get this done this very week and avoid the crowds. There are two …

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Far from the maddening crowds in the city, some people decided to the beaches of Guayacanes and Boca Chica over the Christmas holidays. There were no crowds, and people enjoyed the opportunity to enjoy fresh air without a face covering on Christmas morning. Just a few cars lined the road near Guayacanes, and even fewer …

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Christmas time in the Dominican Republic is for family get-togethers, with lots of food and plenty to drink. It is also a time for massive traffic jams in the big cities, especially Greater Santo Domingo. The government agencies that control traffic count the traffic fatalities in the high 40s and the trauma centers are full …

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The nation’s largest trauma hospital, the Dario Contreras in East Santo Domingo, reported that they received more patients for gunshot and knife wounds than for traffic accidents for the first time in its history. In one incident, the hospital even reported that a vehicle entered the emergency driveway at high speed and crashed into an …

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Retired general Juan Mendez of the Center for Emergency Operations (COE) said that over the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day holidays, there were just 11 traffic fatalities and eight other deaths attributed to other causes as of Saturday, 26 December. The lethality is an all-time low, as readers can easily remember recent holiday seasons with …

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The Ministry of Public Health’s Epidemiology Department Coronavirus Bulletin #283 reports 824 new PCR confirmed cases. The 7-day nationwide average for PCR confirmed cases is 911. Zero new deaths are reported for the Saturday, 26 December 2020 deadline, no deaths have occurred in the previous 24 hours of the deadline. Labs carried out 2,808 first …

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President Luis Abinader and First Lady Raquel Arbaje addressed the nation for Christmas on the evening of Wednesday, 23 December 2020. They called for Dominicans to take special care for themselves and their loved ones in these Covid-19 days. “This way we will be able to see their smiles again. We will embrace each other …

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President Luis Abinader issued Decree 724-20, dated 22 December 2020, creating Pro-Pedernales, a public trust that will enact the necessary infrastructure for the tourist development of Pedernales, a province in the southwest that borders Haiti. The executive act focuses on the importance of tourism development in the southwestern region for the improvement of the living …

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Minister of Interior & Police Jesús (Chu) Vásquez says the government will announce a 30% increase in wages for the Police in January 2021. Speaking on the “Esta Noche con Mariasela” TV show he spoke of other ways the Abinader administration is enacting to improve the police’s finances. The pluses include that police are now …

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