Published 13 May 2020
Buckie Got It, St. Kitts and Nevis News Source
COVID-19 fight: PM Harris praises citizens and residents for adhering to SR&O Regulations
BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, May 13, 2020 (PLP PR Media Inc.) — The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis never underestimated the coronavirus pandemic and for the dividends it is reaping now, Prime Minister Dr the Hon Timothy Harris is praising citizens and residents who have adhered to the Statutory Rules and Orders (SR&O) Emergency Powers (Covid-19) Regulations.
“We have seen the most powerful, the most advanced countries brought to their knees; chaos looms elsewhere – there is no chaos here,” said Prime Minister Harris on Tuesday May 12 when he chaired the eighth in a series of the now overly popular Leadership Matters, a virtual forum series, on ZIZ Television.
“My government never underestimated this virus – we have been proactive and careful from Day One,” said Dr Harris. “We were among the first to restrict entry to travellers from high risk countries such as China. We were among the first to begin the process of holding persons in quarantine and isolation. We were among the first to close our borders. We rejected cruise ships when others allowed them in, and we were the last independent state to register a Covid-19 case.”
According to the Prime Minister, who had Deputy Speaker, Senator the Hon Akilah Byron-Nisbett, and Ambassador for Youth, Sports and Culture, His Excellency Jonel Powell, as panellists on the programme, because of the strict Regulations and the fact that they are being adhered to, St. Kitts and Nevis has to date avoided community transmission of the virus, which is happening all over the world.
“At the time of this broadcast we have only one active case in our Federation, with fourteen cases fully recovered,” advised the Honourable Prime Minister. “No deaths, no hospitalisation – to this we say ‘to God we give the glory’. My gratitude of course must go out to our people for their adherence to the rules that have been put forward in our SR&Os with respect to the pandemic.”
Prime Minister Harris, who also has lead responsibility for Human Resource Development, Health and HIV/AIDS issues in the CARICOM’s quasi-cabinet, observed that unlike other countries where people have died in their thousands, the health system in St. Kitts and in Nevis has not been overwhelmed.
The result, he noted, was that the country is now seeing the dividends of its careful cautious approach, combined with the people’s efforts, and he said in particular the viewers at home who faithfully followed the Regulations put in place for their safety, and most importantly for their health.
“This means that we can begin slowly opening up our country again, and we will do this in the same careful, meticulous, sensible and systematic way we approached the rest of our pandemic response,” advised the Prime Minister.
“We will do this in the way that is recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), and our own local health experts,” he added. “We will not be rushing to do anything that is not backed by the medical advice, and certainly not dangerous things that are pushed by people with their own selfish political agendas.”
As it relates to the country’s borders, Dr Harris said that on health advice, they will remain closed. Those who must enter for any reason must be subjected to a compulsory quarantine in a facility determined by the country’s health professionals for at least fourteen days in the first instance.
“This of course is being done to protect our people from the virus,” advised the Prime Minister. “Our cases so far have been linked to travel. Health comes first because for us in government, lives matter most.”
