by Kevon Browne
St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN) – Barbados has extended its lockdown, enforced to combat community spread and to block transmission of the UK variant of the coronavirus, to February 28.
In an address to the Nation and Press Conference on February 15, Prime Minister Mia Mottley said the extension was as a result of recent clusters of COVID-19 cases in the country as well as a lack of adherence to the protocols during the pause.
“Given the decisions of the public health officials, given the recommendations and discussions with the economic and financial officials, we are satisfied that we are going to require a little more to do what has to be done. You cannot cheat and win this battle, you cannot. And I ask every Bajan now to be their brother and sister’s keeper, if the loss of a healthcare professional does not do it for us then we have to look in the mirror and ask ourselves, who have we become? If we cant get tired of hearing about people losing their lives, who have we become?”
With a national pause, there would be an obvious economic fall out for an economy already trying to recover with a stunted tourism sector because of global tightening of travel restrictions. Mottley reported that according to the advice of her financial advisors, Barbados would lose around $150 million in revenue for the month of February.
