7 News Belize

COVID Community Spread, Cayo District On Lockdown
posted (April 6, 2020)
Just a fe minutes ago Prime Minister Dean Barrow finished a live address to the nation. He spoke after an all day meeting nay the national oversight committee responding to the death of the first COVID 19 patient in Belize, San Ignacio resident Huber Pipersburgh, and then the emergence today of two more cases, also from San Ignacio.

The PM says that this has forced them to lockdown the entire Cayo District - and sharply increase testing:

Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"For the protection of the public the entire Cayo District must now be placed under quarantine. During this period of an enhanced lockdown for Cayo, random testing will be greatly expanded throughout the district. So during the period of this lockdown, let me repeat, the Ministry of Health will do greatly increased surveillance and random testing to try to get a handle on this thing, particularly in the first instance in the Cayo District, because of the fact of the 3 cases having come from there."

"People in Cayo will be strictly confined to the following activities: procuring food and medicine, procuring fuel and finance. Thus, grocery shops and pharmacies will be open, but during reduced hours. Fuel stations will also operate during reduced hours and banks, credit unions and other lending institutions, they will only be able to operate between the hours of 8am and 12noon. Naturally bus transportation to and from the Cayo District will cease all together."

"To preserve the food supply chains, farms and farmers will be allowed to continue to work. In deed to this end, the Ministry of Agriculture will immediately begin to liaise with the agro productive sector in the district. Additionally of course, the movement of essential workers must be provided for, so government will have to arrange for their transportation in view of the stoppage of the commercial busses."

And while Cayo is the focus of this new stage of the State of Emergency, there will be a countrywide effect - especially with relation to construction sites and hours of operation for other types of business:

Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"Apart from the Cayo lockdown there are also additional measures that the NOC took with respect to the rest of the country. The list of approved businesses will continue in effect, but there are some changes to the prescribed hours of those businesses. Before I speak to those changes which are relatively minor, I should perhaps say though that in terms of the new regime to govern Belize City, one particular approved activity has been taken off that list of approved businesses entirely and must now cease operations and I am talking about construction and constructions sites, private and commercial. They must now be closed in accordance with the decision taken today by the national oversight committee. They must now be closed for the next 14 days in the first instance, but continuing on - bakeries and tortilla factories - always those were businesses that naturally that had to be allowed to remain open. Their opening hours though will now change. They will go from 5am - 4pm and then they initially were on the list business that could open from 5am-7pm. So to repeat, they now change and they go from 5am-4pm. We are trying to shorten working hours as much as possible to reduce the movement and the flow of traffic of persons."

"From the list of those businesses that previously were allowed to open from 8am-7pm, convenient stores, food stores, supermarkets, meat shops, butchers, distributors and factories of carbonated and other beverages, including spirits and excluding potable water and food will now only be open from 8am-4pm."

"So financial institutions: commercial banks, credit unions, money lending institutions, money transfer institutions and so on - they will only be able to operate between the hours of 8am and 12noon. markets that retail agricultural produced, fish and meat - they will be able to start opening a little earlier from 6am, but they too must close by 4pm each day. Mechanic shops, garages and other auto parts places - from 8am until 4pm. Hardware stores for delivery services only - between 8am and 4pm."

The Prime Minister's statement finished just a few minutes ago, and we'll have more from it later on in the news.

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