Opposition Leader Will Reconstitute National Oversight Committee
John Briceño
COVID-19 continues to ravage the country with an outbreak now detected in the banana belt and an uptick in cases in the north. But on Monday, the National Oversight Committee held its last meeting when it decided that a curfew would be imposed in two villages in the banana belt. The N.O.C. began operations in March when the first case of COVID-19 was detected in the country. It was charged with making recommendations to cabinet to contain the virus and on other matters relating to the pandemic. But with elections a few days away, it has now been dissolved. Opposition Leader John Briceño says that if the P.U.P. forms the next government, the National Oversight Committee will be reconstituted and the opposition will be asked to join the efforts to battle COVID-19.
John Briceño, Leader of the Opposition
“We are going to set up the National Oversight Committee to be able to guide Belize through this pandemic We will invite the opposition to be a part of it. I know that there is a genuine concern by everyone, myself including as to how we can control this pandemic. Orange Walk needs urgent attention. We need to send more people there to be able to help the team that is doing an admirable work, the health team, in Orange Walk but they desperately need more help. We need to decentralize the testing. We need to ensure that we can ensure that we can set up a rapid test in Orange Walk to be able to get the results very quick within a day or two. We need to do more contact tracing. We have to be go through into an aggressive education campaign, being on TV and talking for a little while that is far from enough. We have to go into the villages, literally go house to house explain to them what this thing is doing and why it is important that the minute you suspect that you are COVID positive. That you need to be isolated. We have to do a number of things. I say all of that to make the point that there is general concern from Belizeans all across an especially in Orange Walk.”
