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The current COVID-19 curfew will still come to an end at midnight a week from Sunday, Attorney General Dale Marshall has declared after Government’s extension of the public health emergency triggered widespread confusion.
He said: “The current Curfew Directive lasts until the 3rd of May. And this, therefore, means that in order for the Curfew Directive to be valid after the 27th of April, we needed to go to Parliament and extend it for a period beyond that.
“The Curfew Directive that exists presently will still come to an end on the 3rd of May. If the Government determines based on the public health advice that we need to extend that curfew or put different restrictive arrangements in place, that will be done, but those decisions have not yet been taken.”
His statement comes amid public concern that the curfew would be lengthened after Parliament today extended the State of Emergency until June 30th.
The announcement was made today by Acting Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw who said the move was in keeping with the advice of medical practitioners, particularly the Ministry of Health, as they continue efforts to control the spread of COVID-19.
In a statement issued moments ago, Marshall clarified the matter.
He said: “ So there appears to be some alarm in the minds of the Barbadian public and they seem to feel that the curfew has now been extended until the 30th of June. That is absolutely not the case. All that we’ve done is to say that until the 30th of June, we consider that Barbados is in a State of Emergency to deal with COVID.
“Between now and the 30th of June, we will employ such measures as we feel are important and necessary in order to be able to achieve the results that we want.
“But under no circumstances are Barbadians to imply or infer that we have by this action extended the curfew period to any time beyond the third of May.”
Marshall noted that under the Emergency Management Act, the State of Emergency is a two-stage process. The first stage is that the Governor-General will declare a State of Emergency which lasts for 30 days. If it has to go beyond 30 days then the House of Assembly has to resolve that it should be extended.”
He continued: “What we have decided, though, is that the State of Emergency will extend until the 30th of June, and that is consistent with exactly what we are dealing with. COVID is not going to go anywhere by the 30th of June. So for as long as we have this fight in our hands, it is still going to be a State of Emergency. But throughout that period, the Government is going to employ different tools, different restrictive measures from time to time.”
