Effective February 3 2021, Saint Lucia will be under a state of emergency (SOE) and a daily curfew. Prime Minister Allen Chastanet made the announcement on Tuesday night during an address to the nation.
He stated: “Our country will go back to a SOE effective Wednesday February 3, 2021, for an initial period of seven days. This will allow us to further restrict movement with a curfew from 7PM- 5AM, effective Wednesday February 3, 2021. The COVID-19 Act is being amended to reduce operation hours for businesses operations to coincide with this curfew.
“Visitors to Saint Lucia will now require a PCR test within five days of arrival rather than the seven days. Supermarkets will remain open. Let me state again: supermarkets and pharmacies will remain open so there’s no need to panic buy. Essential services will also be allowed to operate. The full list will be published in the revised statutory instrument on www.covid19response.lc Today’s decisions were not taken lightly as we know it will be an inconvenience to all of you,” Chastanet said. Speaking on the tourism sector, he stated: “If it gets to the point where we see that the risk to Saint Lucians is too great, and will put their health and safety at risk, we’ll have no hesitation in shutting down again.”
Minister for Education Dr. Gale Rigobert also announced that face-to-face teaching will be suspended from Thursday, February 4 2021.
