Saint Lucia police to enforce COVID-19 laws, three CARICOM countries record deaths
Story via CMC – The Saint Lucia government Monday warned that the police would adopt a zero tolerance approach to enforcing protocols aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) that have been linked to deaths in Guyana, the Bahamas and Belize over the past 24 hours.
Prime Minister Allen Chastanet said that he was especially making reference to the wearing of a mask in public spaces as the island recorded its 29th case over the last weekend.
“Beginning today, the police will have a zero tolerance approach to enforcing of protocols, especially with the wearing of a mask in public spaces. Statutory Instrument Number 152 of 2020 speaks to who is exempted from masks; limitations in mass crowd events will continue to be enforced, and the issue of overcrowding on public buses will also be strictly enforced,” Chastanet said.
“Effective October 15th paid Government quarantine applies to all returning nationals. You are encouraged to anonymously report any known breaches to the COVID-19 protocols to the police. This includes breaches to home quarantine and illegal entry of persons,” he said, adding that he is convinced that contact with someone who entered this country illegally, was responsible for the island’s latest COVID-19 case.
“I am certainly convinced that it was contact with someone who came in illegally that has initiated this and if they have affected one person, which is a bus driver, they can easily affect other people,” Chastanet asserted.
Earlier, appearing on a television programme with Chastanet and the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Dr. Sharon Belmar-George, Police Commissioner, Severin Moncherry said that the maximum penalty for non-compliance of the regulations is EC$1,000 (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) or six months in prison, or both.
“I will be speaking with my officers. We will be meeting together Monday, God willing, and there will be full enforcement,” he told television viewers on Sunday night.
In Guyana, a 40-year-old female of Region Four has been recorded as Guyana’s latest COVID-19 death pushing the death toll to 104.
The woman’s death came less than 24 hours after the Ministry announced that a 61-year-old woman of Region One died at her home as a result of the virus.
“The Ministry of Health (MOH) regrettably informs that as of October 11th, one more person who tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has died. The Ministry is also appealing to the general public to respect the confidentiality of the deceased and her family, and to allow them to mourn their tragic loss in peace.”
According to the official figures, Guyana now has 3, 469 positive cases after 64 new cases were recorded on Sunday. According to the Ministry’s dashboard, there are 16 persons in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit. So far, 2,318 persons have recovered while 1,032 persons are in isolation.
In the Bahamas, the Ministry of Health confirmed 55 additional cases, bringing the total to 5,078.
It said there were 3,861 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in New Providence, 654 in Grand Bahama, 157 in Abaco and 56 in Bimini.
The Ministry of Health also confirmed the death of a 6) year old male of New Providence bringing the death toll to 107.
“To date, 24,502 tests have been completed. Hospitalized cases decreased by two to tally at 110. Further, there were 85 recovered cases so that the recovered cases now total 2,900.
Belizean authorities said that a total of 163 samples were processed on Sunday resulting in 35 new cases.
As a result the number of positive cases there is 2,531 with 946 being active.
“We have unfortunately, another death to report, this is in a female in her late 60s from Orange Walk who had been hospitalized at KHMH’s ICU. Our case fatality rate now stands at 1.46 per cent,” the authorities added.
Comments are closed.