G.O.B. Announces Nationwide Curfew as Part of COVID-19 Strategy

The Briceño Administration, fourteen days after taking office, has unveiled its strategy to control the further spread of COVID-19 in the country.  The way forward includes a curfew which commences on Saturday.  It will be from nine p.m. to five a.m. for an initial period of twenty-one days. What the new plan of action does not include is a National Oversight Committee which was a public/private working group created by the previous government and subsequently disbanded nine days before the general elections. Minister of Health Michel Chebat says that for the next six months, a task force comprised of doctors and technical experts will be advising the ministry.  The ministry will be increasing its response for change in key areas, including epidemiological surveillance, hospital and lab capacity.  As part of its national public health measures for containment, the government has also decided that churches can conduct service but with a limit of ten persons. Bars and gymnasiums will not be allowed to re-open. Minister Chebat says that the Belize Police Department is tasked with enforcing the COVID-19 rules.

Michel Chebat

Michel Chebat, Minister of Health and Wellness

“Starting on Saturday the twenty-eight of November, a curfew will be implement from nine p.m. to five a.m. and this will last for period for twenty one days. Restrict on of gatherings shall remain at ten persons. There shall be work from home orders and or staff shift rotation for public and private employees. We shall be providing food packages and a stipend to families who are quarantined. We are also going to be providing hotels for persons who cannot quarantine at home. Our team at the ministry will be assessing housing conditions to determine adequacy of isolation and or quarantine. We are going to be asking the police to strictly enforce the quarantine measures. We are going to be providing accommodation and other logistics for healthcare personnel. We are going to be undertaking a health education campaign, a robust one as we had with the I.C.J.  Restaurants with outdoor facilities will be able to hosts up to twelve persons at a time. Those that do not will only be allowed to have takeout service. There will no gatherings in public places and stores and business will be required to have six foot markers and will only be allowed to have twenty persons at a time in these business locations.”