[4] On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019.
On 16 March, at midnight local time, Haiti's Prime Minister, Joseph Jouthe, announced a two-week suspension of flights from Europe, Canada, the Dominican Republic, and Latin America.
[14] On 12 April, The Intercept wrote that "the Haitian government has closed schools and most factories and is encouraging people to adopt social distancing measures.
[16] The Miami Herald wrote that Jouthe's messaging "seems counter to what the regional health experts are telling countries in the region,"[17] noting that Pan American Health Organization Director Carissa Etienne had warned that social distancing "remains our best bet to reduce transmission and slow the spread of the virus" and stated that "COVID-19 has yet to hit with full force in our region, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean, and we expect it to intensify in the next few weeks," and that "the rise in hospitalizations and deaths we see in some countries highlights how quickly the situation could change.
"[18] On 8 May, the United Nations' Economic and Social Council's Ad-Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti expressed concern that "Unless adequately managed, the COVID-19 health emergency and its socio-economic impact could become a humanitarian catastrophe, threatening to unravel some of the hard-won development and security gains achieved in the past decade and a half in Haiti".
[20] Reuters quoted Vodou priestess (mambo) Lamercie Charles as stating that "We live in a country where the health system is not able to respond to the challenge of the pandemic, so we rely on natural remedies instead...
But for here, somebody having to shelter in a place with no chance to go on the streets and hustle to make enough money to live for today, means that tonight they are going to be sitting on their own, hungry with their children and worried about tomorrow.... hand to mouth every day.