And, so, as you heard, patient 3 claims to have self isolated at that Northside address, the risk is now clearly to the wider Belize City population - about 70 thousand, many who live in cramped conditions and congested neighbourhoods.
The Prime Minister says that the national State of Emergency is necessary to keep people at home and contain any possible contagion:
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Announces Nat'l State of Emergency
"Clearly the crowds in the old capital make us more susceptible to widespread transmission. Thus, a comprehensive tracing of the afflicted individual's possible contacts and a wider mapping exercise are both being done by the Ministry of Health team."
"In this connection, both the evidence from other countries and the advice from our own experts agree on one thing: the best way to at least slow, and hopefully stop, the spread of the virus, is by strictly enforcing the physical distancing, self-isolation, quarantining and other such rules. Even though we have already imposed a state of emergency for Ambergris Caye and passed two statutory instruments imposing penalties -- including jail time for those that do not comply with the law -- too many Belizeans are not taking the measures seriously enough."
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