Update St. Kitts and Nevis – Prime Minister Address to the Nation: April 24

By Jascene Dunkley-Malcolm Last updated Apr 27, 2020

My Fellow Citizens and Residents:Last Friday, the 17^th of April, after a long debate in the National Assembly, a Resolution was passed by a two-thirds majority as required by the Constitution, to extend for six (6) months the State of Emergency, which began on the 28^th of March 2020. This was necessary for St. Kitts and Nevis to continue our fight against the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. This worldwide pandemic threatens the world, and St. Kitts and Nevis is no exception. His Excellency the Governor General had signed into law further Regulations under the Emergency Powers Act, which were gazetted as SR&O No. 14 of 2020 and which are in force until 6:00am, tomorrow, Saturday, the 25^th of April. We continue to urge all our citizens and residents to take every precaution. Danger still lurks. The virus continues to kill persons everyday. As at yesterday, the worldwide statistics revealed that 2,549,632 persons were confirmed with COVID-19 and 175,825 persons had died. The situation of course changes from day to day. We still have to be cautious even as we relax gradually some of the strict guidelines of the last few weeks.

Tomorrow, Saturday, the 25^th of April, another SR&O, No. 15 of 2020, will introduce another round of Regulations under the Emergency Powers Act to fight COVID-19. These Regulations will be similar to what we have been experiencing this week, and will be in force for the next two weeks this time until Saturday, the 9^th of May. They will begin this weekend with a 24-hour curfew – a total lockdown – on Saturday the 25^th and Sunday the 26^th until Monday the 27^th of April at 6:00am.

Next week, we will follow the same pattern as we did this week. On Monday and Tuesday, there will be limited operations, while on Wednesday there will be a 24-hour curfew, a total lockdown. On Thursday and Friday, businesses will again have limited operations before there is a 24-hour curfew, a total lockdown, for the long holiday weekend from Saturday, the 2^nd of May to Tuesday morning, the 5^th of May. From Tuesday 5^th May to Friday 8^th May, businesses will have 4 consecutive days of limited operations while there will be the nightly curfew before we enter the weekend of curfew.