Published 24 April 2020
Buckie Got It, St. Kitts and Nevis News Source
Prime Minister Harris commends frontline workers in the fight against COVID-19
BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, April 24, 2020 (PLP PR Media Inc.) — St. Kitts and Nevis is making great strides in the war against COVID-19 as it relates to flattening of the curve based on the six criteria set out by the World Health Organisation, and Prime Minister Dr the Hon Timothy Harris is commending all frontline workers led by the Medical Professionals.
“Whatever we do as a Government, I assure you we seek the advice of our medical experts headed by the Chief Medical Officer, Dr Hazel Laws and the Medical Chief of Staff, Dr Cameron Wilkinson,” said Prime Minister Harris on Friday April 24 in an address to the nation.
“The Medical Professionals leading the fight against COVID-19 here in St. Kitts and Nevis have informed us that the World Health Organisation, the WHO, has established six criteria that countries should use before lifting or relaxing the restrictions,” noted Dr Harris.
The six, according to the Honourable Prime Minister are controlling the transmission of the virus; ensuring that the local health systems are able to detect, test, isolate and treat every COVID-19 case and to trace every contact; and ensuring that the outbreak risks are minimised in special care settings such as healthcare facilities and nursing homes.
The others are instituting preventative measures in workplaces, schools and other places where essential services are offered; managing the risk of importing the virus from other countries/territories; and fully educating, engaging and empowering communities to live under what has been described as the new normal.
“Dr Laws and Dr Wilkinson tell us that we can tick off each of these six items, that so far, we have been successful in our efforts,” said Dr Harris. “There has been a slow increase in confirmed cases. We have been assured that we have an aggressive contact tracing system in place and that we here in St. Kitts and Nevis have tested all who needed to be tested at this time.”
The Medical Professionals have reported that the latest batch of tests done this week have all been returned negative – all seventeen of them. Noted the Prime Minister: “This of course is very good news. It means that we are flattening the curve.”
He informed that Government has restricted visitations to institutions, has kept all schools closed and has introduced preventative measures in workplaces. The country’s borders remain closed and government has mitigated the risk of importing the virus from other countries, while it continues to provide daily briefings to keep citizens and residents abreast of everything COVID-19.
“I want to thank all those who have worked so diligently over the past few weeks to protect us, our communities and indeed our Country,” said Prime Minister Harris. “Many of our citizens and residents have shown a sense of selflessness and a commitment to duty and a belief in Country that should make us all proud.”
Added the Prime Minister: “I must single out our Medical and Health professionals, the doctors, the nurses, the EMTs and all other support staff, our security personnel and numerous teams at the NEOC in St. Kitts headed by Mr Abdias Samuel and of course the EOC in Nevis who have all worked tirelessly to help keep us at home and adhere to the social distancing protocols at business establishments.”
During the National address Prime Minister Harris advised of the introduction of another SR&O, No. 15 of 2020, to take effect from Saturday April 25 and which will bring about another round of Regulations under the Emergency Powers Act to fight COVID-19 that are similar to what the country has been experiencing this week, and it will be in force for two weeks until Saturday May 9.
This will mean that Saturday April 25 and Sunday April 26 will be under total lockdown, 24-hour curfew, until Monday April 27 at 6:00 am. On Monday April 27 and Tuesday April 28 there will be limited operations with night curfews and a total lockdown on Wednesday April 29.
“On Thursday (April 30) and Friday (May 1), business will again have limited operation before a 24-hour curfew – a total lockdown – for the long holiday weekend from Saturday, the 2nd of May to Tuesday morning, the 5th of May,” advised Prime Minister Harris. “From Tuesday 5th May to Friday 8th May, businesses will have four consecutive days of limited operations while there will be the nightly curfew before we enter the weekend of curfew.”
