BELIZE CITY, Wed. Feb. 17, 2022– Earlier this week, Minister of Health and Wellness, Hon. Kevin Bernard, mentioned to a local media house that in a few weeks the curfew—which has been in effect in varying forms since April 2020 when Covid-19 was first detected in Belize—might be removed.
The latest version of the curfew came into effect on Monday, February 7, and is to end on March 6. Currently, the curfew period starts at 11:00 p.m. and ends at 4:00 a.m. from Sunday to Thursday and lasts from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
When interviewed this week by CTV3, however, Minister Bernard, who took over the oversight of fhe Health Ministry just a few weeks ago after PM Briceño’s reshuffling of Cabinet portfolios, stated that he is over 95 percent confident that the curfew will cease sometime next month. Minister Bernard said that, following discussions with the COVID-19 Medical Response Team, he has reached the conclusion that it might be time to lift the curfew.
“While I know the curfew has had its own advantages, at the same time, people have been frustrated that being locked out, being locked out has been too long and constantly you know, the request has been coming in. When I met a few weeks ago with the COVID Medical Response Team, they also feel that it is time for us to look at it. So the curfew is one, the top priority, in trying to get that out of the way pretty soon. I’m more than 95% sure that that will happen,” he said.
Another adjustment that is reportedly being mulled within the Ministry of Health and Wellness is a reduction in the cost of COVID-19 testing at the border. While Hon. Michel Chebat was at the helm of the Health Ministry, the Belize Diagnostic Center was granted the contract to administer COVID-19 testing at the country’s land borders. Belizeans crossing the land border and spending over twenty-four hours in a neighboring country must pay $100 to receive a COVID-19 test upon returning to Belize—a price that many Belizeans have viewed as too high. According to the Health Minister, those in the ministry are currently engaged in talks aimed at possibly reducing the price of such testing.
“We are in discussion with the providers to see the price range to make it a little bit more affordable to the Belizean people. We are also cognizant of the fact, there may be a point down the road that may not be needed at all. We are in discussion with this provider to see where we can work some adjustments, and they’re leaning to that, and so hopefully we can have a proper response within the time when we make those announcements. At the same time, The Belize Diagnostic is creating employment; you have people employed. They have to have the PPEs. They have to have the equipment. These things cost, so you can’t expect somebody to provide, and again if it cost them, it will also cost the government if we were to go and do it,” Hon. Bernard noted.
Minister Bernard further stated that the Health Ministry is also considering removing the testing requirement for all those who re-enter the country after spending less than three nights across the border.
“We look at the border, we look at the numbers coming, and we look at the effects of the border opening. So our numbers are showing that is steady, it is manageable, and so if this trend continues over the next week or two, we are going to make that recommendation once the positivity rate remains between 10 to 15 percent, then we move away from the overnight and take it up after a three-night stay,” he said.
In reference to the suggestion that the govenrment itself should carry out the testing at the border instead of a private company, Minister Bernard said that the ministry does not have sufficient human resources to be operating testing services at the borders and throughout the country.
“Because of COVID, we have taken these officers out of their normal responsibility such as making sure dengue, malaria, and all these other illness. You know, the food handlers training and all these things that constantly going on and monitoring across the country, they have a task. And so, what we need to remember is that because of COVID, we would have to utilize also these public health officers to be out there assisting with the swabbing, assisting with contact tracing, and now that the border is open, they are also stretched very thin. So I believe, it was in that wisdom that the decision was made. The Ministry itself does not have the human capacity or the numbers to be able to manage both of these,” he said.
Minister Bernard has noted that comprehensive documents will be presented to Cabinet sometime next week in support of the curfew removal and the reduction of the price of COVID-19 testing at the land borders.