Curfew to be lifted from Valentine’s Day

Valentines night will be an extra special one for lovers.

With the worst of the Omicron outbreak having passed, Government has taken the decision to further relax restrictions, including abandoning the curfew from February 14.

The announcement was made by Minister of Health and Wellness, Ian Gooding-Edghill during a press conference this evening. He said health authorities had reviewed the COVID-19 situation on the island and determined some restrictions could be lifted.

He said the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), which comprises key top health officials, had agreed that the Omicron outbreak was tapering off.

“…The Ministry of Health and Wellness thinks that we have peaked with the Omicron outbreak. The results of these trends indicate that case counts and case incidences are falling; the RE, the ability of the virus to spread has fallen to 0.94; the positivity rate, which is based on tests done, in other words, the number of positive cases divided by the number of tests done has reflected a slowing of the positivity rate based on the rolling average. The doubling time, which measures the growth rate continues to increase. The longer the doubling time, it is indicative of the slowing of the growth of the outbreak,” Gooding-Edghill said.

Additionally, he said 75 per cent of all persons tested daily did not have COVID-19.

Chief Medical Officer, Dr Kenneth George reported there was a 19 per cent decline in newly confirmed cases in the past week, compared to the previous week, while the daily average number of cases had dropped to 495, down from a daily average of 692 two weeks ago.

He said while there was a downward trajectory in the current positivity rate of 23.4 per cent, that number needed to be improved.

Gooding-Edghill said there had also been a significant reduction in the number of persons in home isolation. He revealed that as of February 11,  some 6 980 people were home isolating, down from a high of 11 000.

As a result, Gooding-Edghill said the curfew would be discontinued from Monday; hiking would be allowed in groups of 30 persons or less and pleasure craft, private boats and party cruises would be allowed to operate at 100 per cent of their authorised number of passengers. However, persons will have to produce a vaccination certificate or a negative PCR test to board those vessels.

Additionally, Kensington Oval’s capacity will be increased from 60 per cent to 80 per cent and public service vehicles will be allowed to carry 100 per cent of their authorised sitting passengers, but no standing passengers.

However, Gooding-Edghill made it clear that Barbados was not yet out of a health crisis.

“The relaxation of these elements within the directive while giving more freedom to the population is by no means a signal that the outbreak is over. The further easing of some restrictions is another step of return to life in Barbados as we used to know and love it.

“These acts of national relief should hopefully bring about a noticeable reduction in stress and anxiety among the population,” the Minister pointed out.

“Personal responsibility is critical to the protection of yourselves, your family and workmates. It is absolutely critical that all Barbadians comply with the guidance and protocols given by the Ministry of Health and Wellness … We are by no means out of this health crisis, but we recognise that we are going to have to live, work and socialize safely in this COVID-19 environment for some time to come.”

Head of the COVID-19 Monitoring Unit, Ronald Chapman advised Barbadians not to throw caution to the wind because the restrictions had been relaxed.

He said there had been an uptick in the compliance of protocols, and it had played a huge part in the decision of health authorities to further open up the country. (RB)