BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Jan. 27, 2022– When interviewed by local reporters yesterday, Prime Minister Hon. John Briceño announced that the government has set February 1, 2022, as the tentative date for the reopening of the country’s land borders. Last year, GOB announced that those borders would be reopened in early January, but in late December it issued a press release notifying the public of the postponement of the reopening date to February. The government (following calls from medical officials in the Central Health Region to delay the opening in order to focus on school reopenings as well as study virus trends in neighboring countries) cited a need for the resumption of classroom learning and to monitor the Omicron Covid-19 wave as the reasons for its decision.

The majority of schools are currently engaged in hybrid learning (a mix of in-person classes and online instruction) despite some pushback from teachers and students, and the Omicron wave continues to result in a daily number of new cases that is in the triple digits. PM Briceño said, however, that their timeline to reopen at the start of February is still in place unless something “big happens”.

While he said that he needed to verify what the regulations governing the reopening would be, he did hint that only vaccinated persons would be allowed to cross the border, and he further suggested that such a restriction may encourage more persons to get vaccinated.
“The numbers for vaccination has been down now to about 200 per day, and we need to do more. If we could get at least to 70%, then I think we would be way much better off,” PM Briceno noted.

And while the reopening of the borders will likely breathe much-needed life into our economy, domestic consumption of goods and services is expected to fall as the borders reopen and persons resort to shopping in Mexico and Guatemala.

“I know a lot of businesses have benefitted greatly because the borders have been closed, but the reality is that it can’t stay closed forever,” the Prime Minister said.

Last week, the PM pointed out during an interview that the closure of the border for almost two years has caused problems in the areas of travel, business, and trade. He said that some key sectors are needed to drive Belize’s economic growth, and he stated that finding a way to reopen the border safely is what the government is working on.