Magistrate’s Court Closes After COVID Infections at Prosecution Branch

Across the country, police officers are among the many frontline workers who are exposed to COVID-19, even those who are not on active patrol, and more than one hundred and thirty are off duty.  At the prosecution branch, an office within the Belize Police Department that works closely with the judiciary, over fifty officers have reportedly come down with COVID-19, prompting the closure of the magistracy in Belize City where it is reported that five persons are positive.  News Five understands that the decision to temporarily suspend all matters before the lower court came into effect on Thursday when the offices were sanitized. The department is awaiting the results of nineteen tests.  Commissioner of Police Chester Williams has gone on record to share the growing number of men and women in uniform who have been afflicted with the coronavirus. The Interpol office has also closed officers and staff are either in quarantine or in self-isolation.  We also note that back in August, the General Registry and the Supreme Court which occupy the same building had been closed temporarily after members of staff had also been exposed to COVID-19.