AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums Belize Life News New S.I. to be Passed by Month's End

Meanwhile, the nationwide curfew from eight p.m. to five a.m. has been in effect since December twentieth of last year.� And in the Corozal and Orange Walk districts, the restrictions were stricter, with no cross-district and inter-district movement allowed. Since then, the COVID-19 cases in the northern districts have been steadily decreasing.� There has been a call for the government to change the current quarantine regulations given the decreasing cases.� The United Democratic Party has called on the Brice�o administration to update the health protocols and revisit the current quarantine regulations.� According to Health and Wellness Minister Michel Chebat, new changes to regulations will be coming at the start of February.

Hipolito Novelo

"In terms of the Orange Walk and Corozal Districts, is there still the need to restrict to and from and within those districts?"

Michel Chebat, Minister of health and Wellness

"That will remain in force at least until the first of February."

Hipolito Novelo

"But even though their numbers have been decreasing steadily over the past few weeks?"

Michel Chebat

"For us to ensure that we have the pandemic under control or that we have a permanent decline in umbers the positivity rate has to be at least five percent or lower over a period of two weeks consistently. We are not there yet. It looks good but we are not there yet."

Hipolito Novelo

"I would imagine now the concern is over Belize and Cayo district, would that entail more campaign there?"

Michel Chebat

"Well what we have done out there Hipolito, we launched our Christmas education campaign and we followed it up with a few more ads and what we have done is expanded the testing in both districts and in the south. So we are waiting to see that two weeks period to see where we are."

Hipolito Novelo

"In terms of the curfew, it was indefinite. Any consideration when the curfew would end?"

Michel Chebat

"Yes we are looking at all of these things and it is our intention to have a new set of rules for the first of February."

Minister Chebat did note that while Corozal and Orange Walk cases are declining, the Belize and Cayo Districts are seeing an increase in cases.

Channel 5

---

The Minister of Health, Michel Chebat, along with the Area Rep, Andre Perez, will be on Reef Radio Wednesday morning

New SI coming in February; current regulations remain

New legislation addressing the COVID-19 pandemic will be implemented on February 1st, replacing the current one. On Wednesday, January 20, the announcement was made by the Minister of Health and Wellness (MOHW), Honourable Michel Chebat. The new Statutory Instrument (SI) is expected to relax the current regulations, particularly on the curfew and other rules affecting the tourism sector. Chebat reminded Belizeans that COVID-19 does not move around on its own, but people move it. He urged everyone to do their part and follow the established health protocols (wash hands properly, wear a face mask and practice social distancing) to flatten the curve. "There is a very high cost for the taxpayers of this country when we have to hospitalize any of our citizens," said Chebat. "For every person that is intubated is costing the people and the Government of Belize about BZ$45,000 per patient," Chebat added that the battle against COVID-19 is costly and appeals to Belizeans to do their part to stop the spread of the disease.

Area Representative for Belize Rural South (Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker), the Honourable Andre Perez, said that February 1 is around the corner and it is better to do things right and sacrifice a bit more to avoid another outbreak that could see a nationwide lockdown. He said that by March, the first batch of vaccines would be in the country, but until then, Belizeans must continue taking the necessary precautions to keep the infections low. Perez asks his constituents to be patient and reassured them that he is working to address the islands' issues, but it is a unified effort aiming to control the pandemic and continue reviving the tourism industry.

Click here to read the rest of the article in the San Pedro Sun