Governor Dileeni Daniel Selvaratnam and Premier Ellis Lorenzo Webster announcing the restrictions.
ANGUILLA--The island is in a lockdown situation for the next two weeks due to a case of COVID-19 in a female resident who had links with two other persons who are also COVID-positive. Governor Dileeni Daniel Selvaratnam and Premier Ellis Lorenzo Webster announced the new restrictions that came into force at midnight on April 22.
The three persons with COVID-19 are in quarantine while contact tracing is carried out and an investigation is conducted as to how the person was infected. From midnight April 22 the ports were closed to all incoming passengers but cargo will still be allowed. Persons will be allowed to leave the island.
The population has been advised to stay at home, apart from those providing essential services. Persons can only leave their residence to seek medical care, including vaccinations, visit the pharmacy, to buy food or fuel, go to the bank or exercise for 90 minutes between 5:00am and 6:00pm. Shops will remain open but all public gatherings are prohibited, including church services and in schools, nightclubs and bars. Restaurants are restricted to take-out service only. Tourists are restricted to the property where they are staying; there will be no bubble activities and no restaurant visits except to collect take-out. No new tourists are to be allowed into the island for the next two weeks.
Permanent Secretary Foster Rogers said this is a cluster of cases of unknown origin rather than from community spread. He said masks will be mandatory in public places where social distancing cannot be carried out. He stressed that the only cases on the island are the three now identified. He commended the contact-tracing team that was working all night. He stressed that if the population complies with the regulations it will stop any spread.
Chief Medical Officer Dr. Aisha Andrewin said the vaccination programme will continue and urges all those not vaccinated to do so. She said this is a good moment to control the situation as there are already 6,000 who have received the first shot and 1,000 the second. Speaking about the cluster, she noted that the measures put in place will stop further spread.
Premier Ellis Lorenzo Webster thanked Permanent Secretary Rogers, Dr. Andrewin and others in the Ministry of Health who worked through the night after the case was identified on Tuesday evening. He said that contact tracing and surveillance are under way and these are all steps towards keeping the population safe. He said that border control will be ramped up again. He noted that this pause is essential to protecting the community as the health system would not be able to cope with many cases. He urged everyone to get vaccinated and to adhere to the health protocols.
