Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has announced that Dominica is now free of any active COVID-19 cases.
He said in an address to the nation on Sunday evening that the last remaining active case of the novel coronavirus in the country has tested negative.
The number of confirmed cases remains at 16 where it has been for the past several weeks.
However, PM Skerrit reminded Dominicans as did the Chief Medical Officer a few days before, that the battle against COVID-19 is far from over as additional threats lie on the horizon.
“But we are determined to push on with the awareness, the understanding and the discipline we have all shown thus far, ” the prime minister stated. “As we have done in almost every stage of our development, this government is cognisant that the interest of our people must be at the centre of every measure we take.”
In addressing the reopening of different sectors of the economy, the prime minister made it clear that the guiding factor has to be protecting lives and livelihoods.
“To prevent community transmission, government continues to strengthen our surveillance, contact tracing and isolation systems,” Skerrit stated, adding, “As we gradually reopen, it is imperative that we take all the necessary measures to slow the potential spread of the virus throughout our society; our approach must be measured”
The prime minister stressed the need to learn from the experience of other countries pointing out that some had taken quick measures to reopen and have had to review that decision in light of a new wave of the coronavirus.
“We are learning and we need to learn more,” he asserted.” And importantly, listen to the science; saving lives is our utmost priority.”
Skerrit said reentry into Dominica will be phased to ensure that facilities and health staff are not overwhelmed. He said the government was working to ensure that the many Dominicans out of the country, including students who wished to return home, could do so without placing their families, themselves and others at risk.
The prime minister announced the reopening some business sectors in addition to those that have already been allowed to open.
“Effective Monday 18th May, the following sectors will be allowed to reopen by appointments only in the first instance. Hair salons and barber shops, sulphur spas, manicure and pedicure and massage parlours,” Skerrit announced.”Also, guidelines are being developed in coordination with other countries in the region for the gradual resumption of travel. Should we continue to on the current trajectory of this pandemic situation, we should be able to facilitate at least regional travel by July.”
The prime minister said by then his government should be able to lift the current curfew restrictions in Dominica.
“Our projections, also, is that by that time, we should be able to consolidate the various protocols for the reopening of restaurants, bars, cinemas and hotels,” he continued.”Discussions are ongoing with our church and faith-based leaders on how to facilitate the congregating of worshippers at their various places.
He said for the time being schools in terms of the traditional gathering of classes will remain closed but alternative methods of teaching especially through online training are continuing and being fine-tuned further. According to Skerrit, the current arrangements could continue until the end of the school term.
In respect of these stages, the appropriate protocols and guidelines are being developed for each sector which the ministry of health will share with the public at the appropriate time, the prime minister indicated.
“I cannot overemphasize the need to adhere strictly to all health protocols. I have instructed that the environmental health officers conduct random checks on businesses to ensure that all protocols are being followed,” he warned. “We have noted that as restrictions are being lifted, there is a sense of returning to business as usual.
“The threat of COVID-19 is not over and until a vaccine is found, we must function as if everybody is infected.” Skerrit declared.
He urged people to maintain their distance from others outside of their home circle by staying home unless they need to go out to access services or go to work and to limit their time during activities such as walking or going ton the beach.
He again thanked frontline workers and essential service providers for their “yeoman service to their fellowmen and country” and appealed to Dominicans for their “continued cooperation and support so that Dominica can successfully navigate this pandemic”.
“Throughout history, our country has faced many challenges. and on each occasion, our people have risen to the task. This is another moment in history,” the prime minister stated. “While this current pandemic is unprecedented in many ways, we are confident that through the grace of God, through our working together, and through your determination and spirit, we will once again, rise”
TeteMorne, Todays writing punctuation is not that important, what’s important is your sentences and spelling now you know! Conpawazon Covidiot.
“Should we continue on the current trajectory of this pandemic situation, we should be able to facilitate at least regional travel by July.”
PM STOP IT! That statement is so misleading boy. PM apart for during election have we ever been able to facilitate anything other than regional travel? When you talk about at least regional travel you give the impression that we were offering international travel but due to Covid-19 we will only be able to accommodate regional travel for now. I suspect you just copy and paste statements made by other regional PM’s that do international travel and just pasted it in your speech. Furthermore PM, the FAA downgraded our airport due to safety concerns and as a result you can’t open any new service to or out of Dominica so stop misleading people again. Shame DNO never carried an article about the downgrading our airport just last week.
@It’s me again, “PM apart for during election have we ever been able to facilitate anything other than regional travel?”
I am trying to decipher the meaning of your question above, but it is kind of hard. What do you mean by “apart from doing election”
I see that the Prime Minister is saying that “traveling” throughout the regional countries will be “made easier” than it is now, because of this deadly virus everywhere. What do you mean by, “When have you been able to facilitate anything other than regional travels”? I just don’t get it!
Take all the praise Jehovah and continue to take the stage in our lovely Dominica!
Excellent!!
What Dominica’s leadership has accomplished is worthy of acknowledgement. Deep down inside, Dominicans all over the world are proud yet understandably cautious.
Collectively, let’s assist Dominica as she slowly rise again from the turbulent waves of COVID-19.
Keep hope alive.
A billion Thanks.
This might be considered as straying from the subject but as one who from 1956 was called to drive to marigot hospital day or night to save lives of people in pain, woman with difficult delivery ,children having things stuck in their throat , life threatening injuries, and in some cases asked to rush to Portsmouth I think there is something missing in the fire and ambulance service in Dominica and if I am wrong please do not hold it against me, IT is this there is an emergency call for someone in distress an ambulance is sent pronto with a driver or maybe two drivers none is trained to provide medical treatment in an emergency while being driven to the hospital . this could provide comfort and save lives
@MR DOMINICA, in 1956, you could not have been less than 18-20 years old or even more than that, if you were driving a medical emergency vehicle, but you were trained to help those in distress, am I right?
So 1956-2020 is 64 years ago; are you saying that the drivers of today, do not have the qualifications that you had back then? How do you know that? You cannot still be 18 or 20 in this age and time.
Why do you people choose to speak negative about everything, I will never understand. But you all’s negative contribution is not help the country, keep that in your mind.
Never in my life have I come across such nasty gutter rats as these so-called workers clowns and leader with the same issues their DNA are the same allover one could smell them miles away with dirtiest stupid talks and angry like wild bats looking for someone blood.
What on earth are you on about? Did you escape a psych ward or something?
@Dominican, I know what Silver Fox is talking about. His/her observation is posted here, at every news article; if I were to read all of what is written by you, guys and girls of the uwpites, I would never stop shaking my head, or I would plague this comment board with responses to you all. But what good would that do?
The truth is presented to me every day, spiritually and mentally–that is what matters.
Never in my life have I come across an individual who CANNOT make use of punctuation. Before you come on here calling people gutter rats, check yourself before posting your stupid RUN ON SENTENCES. Allu too fresh! Conpawazon.
TeteMorne, Todays writing punctuation is not that important, what’s important is your sentences and spelling now you know! Conpawazon Covidiot.
because of your mischievous ways and lack of forsight, you will create situation pandemic worst than covid
I tilt my hat to the Government and frontline workers of Dominica on this remarkable achievement, the recovery of all 16 COVID patients. I have stated before and will firmly reiterate, I have full confidence in the PM and the Minister of Health, Dr. McIntyre. This is further testimony of the remarkable achievements of Government. I remain a very proud supporter today. I am so happy to be a current resident of my land of birth. We have food, fish in abundance, comfortable homes and our vulnerable people are taken care of. May the Almighty continue to bless the Nature Island!
Thank you DC, you make lots of sense and truth in every way God bless.
@DC, yours is what I call a great testimony. Yours is the reason our God keeps looking upon us, with His Grace of mercy and compassion. With a Government led by a man like Sir. Roosevelt Skerrit, God will never allow us to fall.
Stumbling, we will, but we will be picked up quicker than we know it. Distress, we will face, but we will never be overtaken by despair, because of God’s Love for us. And to Him be the glory.
May He continue to bless our Nation and the humble servant whom He has chosen to rule over His works in Love for our sake. Amen!
DC , frontline workers yes, government no. It was not the cabinet treating patients every hour of the day and night or handling bed pans. Don’t include all of the government in your praise. Is because they were late in closing the border we got infections in the first place.
@Toto,
Late closing the border we got infections in the first place, who ever you are get back underneath your rock and stay there ……
As far as Skerrit is concerned Dominica could remain closed until Christ returns and that will change nothing because really Covid-19 fits well with his agenda of making us poor, keeping us poor so all could depend on him and keep voting him. After all Covid-19 doesn’t affect Skerrit one bit because he never cared about developing Dominica and making life better for people so what he has to lose? He still has planes from Cuba and Venezuela coming here in the name of medical essential which means passport and other dirty money can still come in knowing that nobody sees nobody heard. So Covid-19 fits Skerrit’s agenda perfectly! Is Skerrit busy to reopen Dominica? The answer is hell NO because he closed Dominica long time before Erika, Maria and Covid-19. So he is happy trust me for COVID-19 and knowing how Dominicans are religious he can quote Bible verses to make them feel good while on lockdown while he and the devil could continue to work in darkness to do all their evil work
COVID-19 is really dangerous. smh
@Covid-19, if you were poor how did you manage to have the electronic device of a phone, laptop, or desktop computer, which you used to write and post this evil comment here? By any chance, do you own more than that particular electronic device?
If you are poor, and those with you, it is you all’s reward from God, for your ungratefulness to Him, through Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit. You all are not hurting the Prime Minister, you are hurting yourselves.
This was really an a- dress by Skerrit and we all know that the purpose of a dress is to cover nakedness. I believe Covid-19 is very dangerous and every step including curfews should be taken to ensure that we are safe. But after 2 months of COVID-19, it is a fact that Covid-19 was not harsh on Dominica and the Caribbean and that had nothing to do with steps taken by our corrupt leaders! In fact when Covid-19 was killing people in China and Europe and Trump had already closed his boarders from China and parts of Europe, the hypocrite Skerrit still had Chinese entering Dominica. So somehow God protected us and Covid-19 with 16 cases and zero death, did less damage than high blood pressure and diabetes which I believe killed quite a few. But how is Skerrit so concerned yet “Hair salons and barber shops, sulphur spas, manicure and pedicure and massage parlours,” are among the first to reopen by appointments or not? Direct contact? Yet buses still under curfew and farmers still…
My IQ points are dropping from reading this…
“Buses under curfew”… so d barbershops and hair salons allowed to stay open longer than the buses on the road? Buses run up till 5, businesses close by 4. “AmOnG fIrSt To OpEn”… Huh? First to open? So I am guessing the supermarkets, clothing stores etc have been closed and are still closed all this time right? I swear when ya’ll don’t support someone, ya’ll come up with the most lamebrain reasons eh… It not harsh on Dominica, you are lucky we only got 16, but you are a definition of complacency, not because none died you can rest easy and just think its over just like that. And you rather these businesses remain closed forever? Do you NOT want people to make a living? If the ministry of health deems it safe, then who are you to argue? Are you a doctor?
That late unplanned address of Skerrit was nothing more than a run in front strategy to give us something to talk about so nobody will talk about the real issues. Nobody will have time to ask Emmanuel Nanthan, who is the right hand man of Skerrit in the CBI industry, questions about the investigation of cricket West Indies while Mr. Nanthan was vice president of CWI that revealed that an offshore company used CWI to move $134k to Dominica cricket association in August 2018 and somehow a month after that mess Mr. Nanthan who was also president of Dominica cricket immediately resigned and gave a fake story as his reason for resigning. Was Mano asked to resign by the famous lawyer as the legal strategy so little boy Glenn Joseph could feature in the movie since questions were already asked by some Caribbean politicians? What about Kempinski that just closed their doors on us? What about our airport that’s downgraded? Why is DNO not telling us about them? Is DNO bought? Poor us boy
These of course are questions that really matter and the answers should matter to EVERY citizen of DA. However, I think there will be a deafening silence over the next week from Skerrit & Co. in this matter. Of course the thing is, there is a giant sleeping up north and that giant hates money laundering as it is a source to finance international terrorism. The giant will keep watching for the time being. As far as Kempinski is concerned, nothing new here. I remind you of the Moroccan hotel, the coffee factory, the abattoir, the geothermal plant… they are all legacies of an extremely incompetent government and are there for everybody to see. But alas, the perpetrators are still in position!!! As far as the airport is concerned, that is a massive problem because to fix these issues will be very expensive and potentially very time consuming. Has the government of DA the means to fix these issues after that spending spree in 2019??? I doubt it!
Dominica is like a movie theater where all we see is the same movie on a different day, regardless of the actor. To me the country is a scan that’s going nowhere and everyone seems to be pretending that things a cool. The people are being lied to, constantly mislead and deceived by a fake leader who knows how to change his tone to make people feel he understands them and cares about their pain, while all he is doing in every address is lie to the people and yet, the media here is so damn weak that they just allow Skerrit and his lies to control the narrative. What Skerrit said last night? Yet that’s what DNO has as headline and that’s what will dominate the conversation on q95, DBS, kairi for the week. Meanwhile kempinski hotel is closed till August 2021; Dominica cricket is mentioned in a fraud that’s on the front page of Caribbean cricket; our airport was downgraded by FAA because of safety concerns for over a week now. But you hear these things in the local media. Man we so…
Lennox Linton, Matt Pelthier, Loftus Durand and THEM know it ALL UWPITES SUPPORTERS hope YOU ALL read and understand.
You all wish has been trashed by the power of jah.
This headline message from Skerrit (?) should read as follows:
“Active questionable Cases in Dominica has not down down..’ says we the people of Dominica.
However, the threat of corruption, deceitfulness, abuse of our government resources continues where the obvious pain lingers on and our people continue to live and survive under poverty, corruption, abuse if stead resources and we see absolutely no change in the socio-economic development of our Dominica and our people, who are still positioned to be reliable on the government and of Skerrit to survive. Our urban and rural communities and villages are still in deep poverty where families are struggling to survive where it’s a challenge to care for their children and families. Shameful!!?
We have no proper account of our States financial resources as regards to:- Passport sales, agricultural sales and tourists visits where the infrastructure of Dominica is in a devastated mess. Driving the our poor villages is sad but…
The essential workers, most specifically, the nurses and health professionals should be highly commended. Meanwhile many families are having extreme difficulties providing a daily meal for their loved ones. The ‘care packages’ that the government has given under the cover of darkness in the first instance are scandalously insufficient, even the method of distribution and items were poorly conceived. Small businesses are the engine of the economy. What really is being done to incentivize this sector? The only strategy the prime minister and his Cabinet of sheep-like followers seem to have is to prostitute the island to China and other rogue nations.
Prime Minister, Sir, just keep in mind that what you and your governing body plans and do, you are doing it by the Will of God, not on your own. Do what you do with humility and obedience–you know who you are in Christ Jesus.
And what God does is always for the good of His people; His doing for our sake is never like serving us on a silver platter, for whatever He does and puts us through by doing it, it is always for the cause of spiritual strength in Love.
Let us continue to be humble and thankful for everything; for there is always a Light beaming bright for all of us who are walking path that leads to Life with Jesus, regardless of the dark steps we will have to make. To God be the glory!
Are you saying God not in control of the devil because it appears so. Well, Skerrit should count his blessings then. Frankly I don’t know who is in control of him. His wife?