News
| Mar 30, 2021

‘Recovering’ St Lucia taking no chances for Easter weekend, tightens curfew restrictions

Gavin Riley

Gavin Riley / Our Today

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Allen Chastanet, Prime Minister of St Lucia. (Photo: Facebook @AllenMChastanet)

In efforts to further slow the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, Prime Minister Allen Chastanet has moved to preemptively shut down most movement in St Lucia this Easter weekend, announcing several amendments to curfews imposed on the Caribbean island.

Chastanet, in a Facebook post on Tuesday (March 30), said that the decision was taken by the Government to be proactive in preventing any potential spike in disease activity during the Easter holiday period.

The current 9:00 pm to 4:00 am curfew remains unchanged for Tuesday and Wednesday.

See table below for updated curfew:

DateCurfew hours
March 309:00 pm to 4:00 am
March 319:00 pm to 4:00 am
April 17:00 pm to 4:00 am
April 27:00 pm to 4:00 am
April 36:00 pm to 4:00 am
April 43:00 pm to 4:00 am
April 53:00 pm to 4:00 am

During the tightened restrictions, residents may not leave their homes during curfew hours, except to attend to critical matters and engage in essential work duties. All businesses are required to close by 10:00 and bars may only operate on a carryout basis.

St Lucia has been under curfew restrictions since February 3, which the Chastenet-led administration declared a limited state of emergency.

As the island hit 2,000 cumulative COVID-19 cases, authorities extended the state of emergency by 90 days, however, since March 17, the 7:00 pm to 5:00 am daily curfew was revised and set to 9:00 pm to 4:00 am nightly.

Initially caught by surprise by the fast-spreading Kent variant of COVID-19, St Lucia experienced an exponential rate of infection due to the UK-based strain, which the island officially confirmed on January 24.

Since January 25, the Helen of the West Indies has seen its coronavirus caseload skyrocket dramatically from 886 to 4,228—the most alarming outbreak in the eastern Caribbean over the last two months.

The island has done well, however, to manage its active cases, which, at its peak was as high as 1,125 on February 9, to just 11 as of Tuesday, March 30.

St Lucia has lost 59 patients to coronavirus-related complications, while 4,130 persons have made a full recovery from the disease.

Tags
Coronavirus Pandemic COVID-19 disease COVID-19 Outbreak curfew restrictions Easter Easter holiday weekend Government of St Lucia Kent variant of COVID-19 Prime Minister Allen Chastanet St Lucia

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