Sunday’s Total Lockdown to Disappear

PM Barrow says that the relaxation of the quarantine measures is because of the containment of the cluster spread of the novel corona virus. Local public transportation by land, air, and sea will resume for essential workers and essential purposes only but passengers will be required to wear face masks. According to the Prime Minister, government offices will reopen and those businesses placed on total shutdown can go back to operating during limited hours. The goal, according to the Prime Minister, is to jump-start the economy.

Dean Barrow

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“As well, the special Sunday quarantine will disappear. I repeat, however, that we are not flinging caution to the winds. So, after midnight on Saturday, all that will happen is that we will go back to the state of affairs that existed immediately prior to the inclusion of the additional measures in SI 55 of 2020. In other words, we will still be in lockdown mode though in a manner not quite as draconian as provided for by the additional special measures. The original State of Emergency Proclamation will itself expire on April 30th, 2020. An extension is clearly needed but that can only be done by way of a Resolution of the National Assembly. There will, therefore, be a meeting of the House on Monday coming, and a meeting of the Senate the following day. Those meetings are for the sole purpose of approving the State of Emergency extension, and physical attendance in the Chambers will be limited to the bare minimum of members needed to constitute a quorum. Once the extension of the State of Emergency is approved by Parliament, a new SI will be drafted for the signature of the Governor General. The National Oversight Committee is currently being advised by the National Task Force, the economic czars and the Health Team as to further relaxations that the new SI could safely permit. The point is that we are looking at the commencement of a phased, calibrated restart of business and economic activity in Belize.”