CASTRIES, St Lucia (CMC) — A shutdown of St Lucia’s non-essential commercial services and an 11:00pm to 5:00am (local time) curfew are among the latest initiatives announced by Prime Minister Allen Chastanet  as the island seeks to reduce the spread of COVID-19. 

“What we are proposing is to close down all non-essential commercial services and in doing that, we believe that the government will be able to reduce the amount of public interaction at this point,” Chastanet told a news conference on Friday.

“The programmes will begin on Monday, March 23 until Sunday, April 5 in the first instance, and certainly depending on its success and what’s taking place and through the advice of the Chief Medical Officer and the collaboration of government, we will determine whether in fact we believe that should be extended or whether we can pull back,” he added.

According to Chastanet, the commercial entities that will remain open are going to be expected to put in new social behaviours.

Chastanet recalled, as an example, that the banks have spoken of limiting their hours, having a dedicated hour for elderly individuals, a special line for front line essential services staff, and a rotation to limit the number of tellers, plus encouraging online transactions in order to limit interaction.

He said the banks are also going to limit the number of individuals in the lending institutions at any one time.

Chastanet said government agencies will be looking at protocols to diminish the number of people on call in any office at any one time.

In terms of essential services, the PM announced that utilities and the telecommunications companies will remain open, but with a revised protocol.

He said sanitation collection and disposal, the supermarkets and pharmacies, mini-marts, bakeries and petrol stations as well as the air and seaports will be open, albeit to a significantly reduced number of services.