PHILIPSBURG--The state of Emergency under which the country has been placed in an effort to stem the spread of the highly infectious coronavirus COVID-19 will be extended by one additional week from May 10 to 17, Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs announced on Friday.
The country was first placed under a state of emergency on April 5, and went on a 24-hour lockdown for two weeks. This was extended by three weeks, which went into effect on Sunday, April 19, and will end on Sunday, May 10. The additional one week extension will go into effect as of May 10 and continue until Sunday May 17. This will bring the total lockdown period to a month and a half.
Jacobs said during a virtual press conference that the one-week extension was based on an assessment in the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), of the current measures in place coupled with the compliance by the public. The extension was based on a proposal by Emergency Services Function 6 (ESF 6), which is the health sector, which Jacobs said, must be the focus as this sector needs to be able to carry out its work in the current health crisis.
“Even St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) has noted a drop in the number of admissions and that is indeed a good sign that the state of emergency is getting the results that we want, but we must see it for a sustained period to indeed feel that the curve has been flattened,” Jacobs said. “We need more time to say that will certainty.”
The necessary national decrees will be prepared this week to be ready in time for the extension.
