And while there are very localised concerns for those rural communities, and San Pedro Town - the Government says a 14 day lockdown of all those areas is a very necessary step to contain further spread of COVID 19.
And, to outline the news rules as only he can, last night, several hours before the new COVID-19 went into effect, Attorney General Michael Peyrefitte made a prime time appearance on the Ask the Experts Webcast.
He laid down the rules and the laws that will pertain in these four communities for the next 14 days:
Hon. Michael Peyrefitte - Attorney General
"Those 4 places will be on lockdown for 14 days, while the entire country as well will be in a State of Emergency for 14 days. For the lockdown areas that I just said, you can't go in. You can't come out. So, nobody will be able to go into these 4 places as of midnight tonight, and nobody can come out. The only way you can go in and come out is for emergency medical situations. If you do not have an emergency medical situation, and you're on San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, you will not be allowed to leave. If nobody needs to render any assistance to anybody in these places that's of a medical nature primarily, you won't be able to enter San Pedro. And you'll only be able to enter the lockdown areas or come out of them if you have the permission of the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of National Security."
"Except for medical emergencies, and except for when people need - if they do within the next 14 days, essential goods and services, like food, potable water, or whatever it is they cannot provide for themselves in these places. If it is not any of those, you can't leave the places. Also, for these 4 places, you'll have a curfew. The curfew will start 8 at night, and it will finish at 5 in the morning, So, from 8 at night tomorrow night, till 5 in the morning, Saturday morning, you are not allowed to be in any public place, nor on any public road, between those hours."
"You will be arrested and charged for violating the regulations. The penalty is $5,000 or a year in jail. Except of course, if you are a member of the security forces such as BDF, police, Coast Guard, Customs, Immigration, any frontline healthcare provider ON DUTY, working for the respective ministry."
"No children should be on any public road during the hours of 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. unless that person is with his/her parent or guardian. Whether you are in a public place or a public space in those 4 places, no more than 10 people can be gathered at any one time. We are back to 10 people now. And if it's more than 10 people are gathered, the only exception is if it is more than 10 people live there. So, if 15 people are in a particular house, and they live there, then what can we do, they live there. But, you will have to prove that you live there."
"I'm an overall very sweet and gentle guy, but I am very angry that we are here, because we had this thing under control, and people did foolishness, and now we have to put restrictions on our country. So, everybody please know that the police, the BDF, and the Coast Guard have all been instructed to be extra aggressive, and extra vigilant to enforce these provisions. There will be no laughing, and no joking by anybody who violates these laws."
The lockdown of these 4 communities and the State of Emergency for everywhere else in the country took effect at midnight last night.
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