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But how did we get here? What's certain, is that many if not all of the cases came via the northern districts of Orange Walk and Corozal. And that's just where the Commissioner of Police went this morning, leading a caravan of police and media to the proverbial pores in that famously porous border. Cherisse Halsall was along for the ride.

The Commissioner was on a mission in the north this morning, a mission to arm his officers for the war against COVID-19 by handing over new devices and PPE's to the officer's posted on border hotspots.

This, after a Police officer in Corozal infected at least two others and caused of 14 to be put into quarantine and this morning the Commissioner returned to BOTES near San Antonio where he had PC Ashton Flowers provide an update on operations in the area.

PC Ashton Flowers, Corporal 1374 Mobile Interdiction Team
"The main strategy or our main goal out here at this time is to make sure that our citizens are not going across the border going into mexico, coming back into Belize and possibly bringing back the COVID-19 to our country and passing it on to the rest of our citizens. So our primary function right now is assisting in dealing with that we're also out here dealing with whatever other illegal activity we come across."

Cherisse Halsall:
"But Sir are you doing anything new because clearly in the past few weeks that has been happening."

PC Ashton Flowers
"It has but out here it's a cat and mouse game, the police is not, the area is large to patrol and the police is not, cannot be at all the places at the same time. So we win some and we lose some ant the end of the day but our presence out here is playing a role because police presence deters people but there are some that won't listen and won't work with the police, they would want to do their own thing. Beers are the main thing that people would go and get over there and maybe, some of the other villagers maybe like grocery items."

We saw remnants of those beers at the site of another handing over in San Antonio.

Cherisse Halsall:
"Sir when we got out of the car we saw some fresh carton's and bottles of Dos X's. That means people would have just passed through here with bottles, what would you say about that?"

PC Denfield Martinez, Commander, San Victor
"I wouldn't, I don't know how you draw that conclusion that they're fresh, I know there's been some stuff around here but I don't know if they're fresh, I wouldn't go as far as to say that they are fresh. Since I got here since the team got here we don't see much activity like I said we have strategies in place and we ---those and we haven't seen much activity so far."

Still, there's activity somewhere because Belize's northern districts have become a COVID corridor and the source of the new wave that tonight confronts the nation. The Commissioner says it's not for lack of trying

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"While we had ramped up our efforts here in the north along the border areas, we saw the need to come back again and put additional resources on the grounds with a view to ensure that we stem the border jumping as much as we can. We know that it is a very very tall order because of the blind spots and the area is extremely huge for the offices to cover."

"The minute you step across that border and come back over this side there's a very very high possibility that you are going to bring the virus with you and give it to others and so there should be no excuses for those persons engaged in these activities."

Cherisse Halsall:
"Sir we keep hearing about large porous borders and sophisticated networks for contrabandistas it's getting to the point where this is like a zombie movie and they keep slipping through, do you feel that these efforts are futile?"

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"I don't understand how you will say it is futile, Cherisse, the fact that we have apprehended a number of them speaks for itself. No matter what we see , President Trump tried to put up a forty foot wall and these sort of things to prevent illegal immigrants from going to the U.S. and they still find a way in. People will always find a way to do things if it is illegal and there's nothing that we can do if we say tomorrow we're going to deploy all the police and all the BDF and all the coast guard along the border areas people are still going to find a way to come in, that is the reality of life."

"May I say thought that the police effort is complemented by the customs as well as BDF you would have seen that when we were in Santa Cruz they had the BDF boat patrolling the river and again that is all apart of our effort to ensure that we do as much as we can to be able to stem these incidents of border jumping and contrabanding."

The Commissioner also told us that the patrol that was once responsible for Santa Cruz, Cocoyol, Douglas, and the San Victor will now be split in two with a newly donated vehicle being designated specifically for patrols of San Victor.