All bars and restaurants to close by 9pm as St Lucia announces new guidelines

As the coronavirus cases in Saint Lucia continues to grow, the government with recommendations from the Chief Medical Officer and National Emergency Management Advisory Committee (NEMAC) imposed new guidelines.

The government have called on people for a night curfew- what is being referred to as a voluntarily limit on movement between 9:00 pm and 5:00 am.

"The Government is asking on all Saint Lucians to join the effort in observing the protocols and keeping Saint Lucia safe.

The guidelines reduced the number of people at mass gatherings from 50 to 25, and only 100 people can attend a religious place based on its gathering capacity.

All businesses are also limited to operate and must close by

9 pm. The press-briefing by the health ministry added that the initiative is to control the gatherings of people through typical hours of high-risk business activities.

Besides this, the government stated that all bars and restaurants would be closed by 9 pm no alcohol consumption at these premises would be allowed.

The government have also prohibited the hosting of any sports seeking more closer contact, high risking sporting activities. The government stated that these initiatives are likely to reduce social gatherings and limit the possibilities of community spread of coronavirus in St Lucia.

In a press-briefing, health ministry declared that all the businesses must implement blended service operations approach wherever possible, the approach is to designed to permit all standard functions of services and operations utilising online platforms by following the standard health protocols. The point of this is to reduce the physical presence in the workplaces.