AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums Belize Life News 9PM curfew goes into effect on July 26th

On Monday, July 26th, a new curfew will go into effect from 9PM to 4AM. The new curfew is in response to the spike in COVID-19 cases across the country and is expected to be in place for two weeks.

In San Pedro Town, Ambergris Caye, this curfew change is not well viewed as it can affect the tourism industry. Islanders would prefer the current Sunday to Wednesday 10PM and Thursday to Saturday 11PM curfew. The total number of active cases in San Pedro as of Wednesday, July 21st is 41, with more to be confirmed. Therefore, the government is taking measures to contain the surge. Two islanders remain hospitalized in Belize City, with one in critical condition and the other stable. This increase is alarming on Ambergris Caye, which depends heavily on tourism. Residents are reminded not to let their guard down and abstain from hosting events such as parties and social gatherings that can result in super spreaders.

Mayor Gualberto 'Wally' Nu�ez and Area Representative, the Honourable Andre Perez, continue to ask San Pedranos to abide by the regulations. Wear masks when in public places, proper handwashing, and social distance. They called on businesses to abstain from hosting events such as parties and overcrowding their premises. Perez shared that during weekends several establishments are violating the COVID-19 regulations. Nu�ez said that warning letters are being prepared for these businesses. If there is no compliance, stricter measures could be taken, such as the revocation of trade licenses.

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

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COVID Curfew Now At 9

A third COVID wave is rearing its head in Belize - that's what the Ministry of Health is saying in response to the steadily rising Covid numbers.

So, effective Monday, they are increasing curfew hours countywide and closing down churches in select villages which have seen a rapid increase in infected persons.

This decision comes out of Cabinet's meeting yesterday. And while such a momentous shift in public health policy would usually warrant a press conference - the Minister of Health announced it ad-hoc when he was on a vaccination drive in the Orange Walk District today.

The Prime Minister granted us an interview on the decision and here's his explanation:

Hon. John Briceno, Prime Minister
"That's certainly not an easy decision for us, because we have been putting a lot of efforts and a lot of resources both financial and human resources to be able to control the spread of covid. But I think that Belizeans after months of having almost zero infections of covid, started to get lax, they started to become reckless, started to forget and behave as covid had disappeared."

"Well, I wish we don't have a curfew, but the only way we can contain or one of the best ways to contain the spread is to try to keep people from moving as much as we can. Of course, we can't lock you up in the room. The next best bet is to have curfew hours and we notice that people become more reckless when they're drinking, when they are socializing, when they are partying and most of that happens at night."

"I know some people use the argument well the virus does not travel only at night, it travels during the day. But during the day we are usually at work or we are usually conscious or we keep on the mask, we wash our hands, we try to keep our distance, but once we start taking a few drinks, we forget about the mask, the social distancing - then that's when we get in trouble. So the minister made a recommendation to cabinet that they want at least for the next 2 weeks to increase the hours. Take it from 10pm to 9pm and 7 days a week for the next 2 weeks to see if the numbers would start to fall."

"We are kind of containing it. If we have not been acting and decisively, probably it would have been far worse, but because of the quick actions of the Ministry of Health and I must commend Minister Chebat and the people at the Ministry of Health for that excellent work that they have been doing - we are still managing to hold it down, but curfew and the people at the Ministry of Health believes that will be able to catch up to bring down the spread and flatten the covid curve."

Curfew Is To Contain Covid

And what does the Minister of Health have to say about the dreaded return of the curfew?

Today in the Orange Walk District Michel Chebat told CTV-3 that it's a containment measure that G.O.B hopes will stave off a rising third wave.

Hon. Michel Chebat, Minister of Health
"Basically I believe that we are in the preliminary stages of a third wave. We are taking additional measures, I want to put the whole country on notice that starting on Monday as a result of the increase in numbers that we have seen, as a result of the fact that we are not observing the public health measures which are intended to curb the numbers we are gonna be looking at a new timeframe for the curfew. As of Monday the curfew will begin across the country from 9:00 o'clock and it's going to go on to 4:00 o'clock in the morning, ok so that's an additional measure we're taking into place. Also throughout the country we're looking at the villages where we have increasing numbers and a lot of the index cases are arising from places of worship. We have asked before. We've asked the churches to please control the numbers to please make sure that their members are observing the public health measures. It has not been happening. So as of Monday we will also be closing down those places of worship in these villages where we have expanding numbers."

Channel 7

Curfew Confusion?

Earlier in the week - when the Minster of Health and Wellness announced that the weeknight curfew would be pulled back to 9:00 pm to contain a third wave of COVID - the entire society kind of took a collective deep breath, like, "here we go again..."

Well, maybe not. Seems the Government has had second thoughts - and the new Statutory Instrument outlining the COVID regulation which come into effect on Monday says that the curfew hours which will now be from 10:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. DAILY. That means the weekend curfew which was set at 11:00 pm from Thursday to Saturday - is now being pulled back to 10:00 pm. Also, minors are to remain within the confines of private property during the hours of 6:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m., unless accompanied by a parent or guardian.

The new SI also declares that Churches in the villages of Conejo, Midway and Barranco will not be allowed to operate for a period of two weeks starting on Monday July 26th.

And, frontline personnel who work at a point of entry or exit will be redeployed if they aren't vaccinated.

The full SI is here:
https://bit.ly/3kQRe8s

Channel 7