NEOC IMPLEMENTS COVID-19 CONTAINMENT STRATEGY ACROSS THE FEDERATION TO AVERT ANOTHER LOCKDOWN

Basseterre, St. Kitts, May 21, 2021 (SKNIS): The Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis through the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) announced on May 19, 2021, that one new case of COVID-19 was present on the island of St. Kitts. In a swift response to ensure the safety and security of residents and citizens of the Federation, the Chairman of the National COVID-19 Task Force, Mr. Abdias Samuel, announced that every effort is being made to contain the virus, which was contracted by a hotel worker with no recent travel history outside the Federation, so that the country doesn’t have to go into another lockdown, which, if happens would be regrettable.  

“I’m asking all business places, citizens and residents, and even visitors within the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis to comply with the COVID-19 protocols as indicated in the Prevention and Control Act. Please ensure that you do your best to cooperate with the health team that is doing the contact tracing at this time. I would like to advise the general public that St. Kitts and Nevis will not be going into lockdown…. At the present moment, investigations are ongoing as per the usual procedure when a case is identified, so we are simply implementing our containment strategy to ensure that we protect everyone to the fullest extent,” said Mr. Samuel.

Further, a number of recommendations were made by the National COVID-19 Task Force and a multi-stakeholder group with the containment strategy seen as the most effective in handling the current situation. Crisis management communication will be a key resource needed to keep the public informed as the investigation into the new case of COVID-19 continues.

The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis has continued its call for more and more persons to be vaccinated in an effort to reach the 70 percent herd immunity threshold. A number of initiatives are presently on stream to assist with persons who are interested in getting vaccinated.

Divisional Commander for District A, Superintendent Cromwell Henry, announced that in light of this new development with the latest COVID-19 case, all events over the upcoming holiday weekend have been cancelled until further notice.
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