As of Monday, April 27, certain restrictions which were imposed in Dominica on April 1 under The Emergency Powers Statutory Rules and Order (SRO) No. 15 of 2020, will be lifted.
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit announced at a press briefing on Saturday, that this move will allow some more services to resume operations as the country continues to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
As of Monday, the suspension on liquor licenses will be lifted; businesses will be allowed to open from 8 am to 4 pm, instead of 8 am to 2 pm and buses will be allowed to carry two passengers per row instead of one.
The prime minister said as time goes by, there will be a need to review the current situation and position of Dominica.
He said the recommendations came from the health team who unanimously agreed that opening hours of business places should be extended from 8 am to 4 pm Mondays to Fridays.
According to the prime minister, the health officials also recommended that passenger buses should be allowed to carry 2 passengers per row instead of one, but with strict adherence to certain guidelines.
Bus drivers or their conductors, will be required to sanitize the hands of passengers before they enter the buses. The compulsory wearing of face masks and cloth shields and the practice of respiratory etiquette will be required at all times and windows should be kept open as much as possible.
Another recommendation is the lifting of the ban on liquor licenses to allow for purchase only and not consumption at points of sale.
“We are lifting the ban on liquor licenses but you cannot go in what we call the rum shops and socialize there and drink there,” the prime minister warned. “If you have to buy liquor or alcoholic beverages, you have to purchase them and go to your homes with them. You will not be able to consume it at the point of purchase.”
Skerrit said a decision has also been taken to allow for the sale of fresh produce by vendors at the Roseau Market and Portsmouth Market.
“Mondays to Fridays, at designated areas up to 4 pm…and that in order to maintain safe distancing between stalls, preventing crowding of streets leading to the market and preventing the sale of produce on the sidewalk in the city, we have considered and we will be allowing, (of course, they will give us a day on Monday to put systems in place, so that we can get it effected on Tuesday), we will be allowing the use of space on the Bayfront for vendors with pick-up vans,” he explained.
Restaurants and food places are asked to continue with pick-up service only until 4 pm.
The prime minister said the issue of opening the ports of entry is something that is being coordinated at the regional level, “ because what we are seeking to ensure is once we reopen we are all following some of the same protocols because we are all connecting in every facet.”
The curfew will remain as is, that is, from 6 pm to 6 am with a complete lockdown on weekends and holidays.
Lin Clown, many, in fact, thousands of resident Dominicans are catching HELL at this very moment. They are out of a job; out of money; out of food and out of their wits as how to survive. Many don’t even know where their next meal is coming from. Where are the CBI monies when needed most? Where is the Stimulus Package? The Skerrit led Aristocracy has completely lost touch with the needs and suffering of the common man, woman and child of Dominica. Their preference is sucking up to racist China, further depleting Venezuela’s already depleted resources, and osculating Russia’s derriere. What do Dominicans have to look for in the short, medium and long term future? Sad but true: excruciating pain and relentless suffering. Where leadership is wanting everything else is wanting.
You hate blue so much and you have blue mask to cover your mouth? In fact the part we not seeing is even more blue than the outer part. You see how hypocrite you and how God exposing your hypocrisy and the division you have brought to Dominica? Sacwe hypocrite and Evil man
Boy I tell you everytime mister mouth moves is another BIG fat lie he telling.
I remain resolute in my demand that Skerrit give account for the 1.2 Billion Dollars and the additional $400 Million US he has stashed in the Bank of Montreal (Not in Canada) located in SPACE. We need that money now, not tomorrow. I see you playing for time while planing to illegally raid DSS but par-lah. You not raiding the institution of the funds raised over that last 40 years intended to take care of redundant workers my friend. Be warned…..
Many weeks have gone by and Dominica stands alone without any structured plan to alleviate the dire suffering of the least among us or any economic strategy to create jobs for the thousands who are jobless. The country can be likened to a rudderless ship stuck on a rocky reef. Covid-19 has revealed the gross ineptitude of this current moronic, brainless cast of crabs in the highest public office.
why wasn’t the person who announced the restrictions in the first place given the opportunity to announce the adjustment to the restrictions? You see the childish physiology , bad cop good cop philosophy; so restrictions imposed , but I, Skerrit , is coming to you now to say ‘ I’ have decided’ not the government or the cabinet or NEPO, but no ‘I’ have decided and ‘ I’ have to take lots of things into consideration, and ‘ I; and ‘i ‘ I am not sure whether Skerritto should be a Rasta with all his :” I and I” but it is clear that this guy is obsessed with power. For example why would a Prime Minister want to be the one to interact with our overseas students as a first step? where is the Ministry of Education, including the PS. the chief education officer?, in regards to finance. tuition and subsistence, where is the Executive officer in education together with the FS, and the accountant general? but NO he intended to be seen as the hero! sickening but only in Dominica
Dear Prime minister,
Let me congratulate you on the splendid job done so far by you and your government re curbing the Coronavirus.
If things continue on this current path we should be able to reopen our borders by the projected time of May 11 th.
However, as I said previously the most important thing for me now is for you to give an account of the 2.2 billion dollars that you yourself agreed were missing during the Budget debate last July.
It’s now 267 days since you made that promise and I can’t wait to see how stupid and “dotish” Lennox Linton is!! You making me suffer man??!
And DNO, you doh care about this too?? Help me Noh man.
HOTEP!
IBO,same old BS from you just a different day.It look like you are going to be barking for another 10 years.Just look how happy linton DOG is,while you are talking about hungry people.If you and your people are HUNGRY I am not
“Bus drivers or their conductors, will be required to sanitize the hands of passengers before they enter the buses.”
The above reminds me of when Moses asked Pharoah for time to go offer sacrifice to God in Exodus 5. You remember Pharoah’s rude response in Exo 5:7-8 “You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw. 8 But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don’t reduce the quota. They are lazy; that is why they are crying out”.
BUS DRIVERS: So last week bus drivers called Matt program to ask for COVID-19 package and to be able to carry more passengers.
Pharoah: so our Pharoah comes stammaring and chemaying with this. Is Covid-19 package all you want. I will allow all you to transport 2 passengers per seat but bus drivers will be REQUIRED to find hand sanitizer and sanitize every passenger that gets on the bus.
Hopefully the situation will continue to improve so many more of the restrictions will be relaxed and later on totally abandoned.
Mr. Skerrit, all the independent OECS countries have an ECONOMIC STIMULUS PLAN firmly in place for weeks now. This is to stir economic activity and assist the most vulnerable among us.
It is downright unconscionable and wicked not for Dominica to have nothing in place to assist the thousands of ordinary Dominicans who are going to bed hungry and starving every night. This is happening while the PM and his close circle are living in exquisite luxury,riding on the sore backs of these same victims.
This is the most corrupt and notorious administration in the entire Caribbean region. Abject and unimaginable suffering of the masses is this government’s legacy.
Your friends made this pandemic, your fiends caused Dominica and the world to be on lock down for almost two months now and your friends caused many to die. My parents always told me that birds of a feather always flock together.