Lifting of curfew dependent on behaviour

The government will only lift the current curfew when the country reaches a point where it is “comfortable” to do so.

Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley explained during a virtual press conference from Brussels on Thursday, after taking part in the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), that any removal of the curfew would be contingent on a number of factors.

“…What we want to do first is to extend [the curfew] before lifting [it], and I think we’re close to extending.  In fact, I’ve received some advice that we can’t only look at the vaccinated people, but we now have to also look at those who have antibodies because, effectively, it is both the vaccinated people and the persons who had [COVID] with the antibodies that are more or less protected.  And, it is against that backdrop that our first destination point would be to carry, hopefully, the curfew to 11 o’clock or midnight,” Ms. Mottley stated.

While pointing out that she was not making any pronouncements at this time, the Prime Minister said once the country reached the goal of having “75 or 80 per cent” of its eligible population vaccinated, then Government would likely remove the restrictions put in place “completely”.

However, she added this was dependent on the behaviour of Barbadians.

“It’s up to Barbadians to determine what kind of future we want.  Do we want to earn again?  Or do we want to be on the back foot waiting for people to hand out charity?  We control how fast we open back up and the more people we can vaccinate and the closer we can get to those targets both in terms of relaxation first and then elimination completely, is in the hands of all of us collectively,” the Prime Minister explained.

She said everyone, from managers to mechanics, has either died or been affected by the virus and that it was time for persons to turn the odds in their favour by not only following the established protocols, but also getting vaccinated.

Ms. Mottley said the vast majority of those who had died from COVID-19 in Barbados were unvaccinated and emphasised that people needed to start taking responsibility for their lives since the pandemic would become endemic and would be with us for a very long time.