City Mayor says 9pm curfew, relaxing of other measures threaten COVID-19 fight

City Mayor Ubraj Narine is not pleased with the measures in place by central Government to curb the spread of COVID-19 as Region Four is seeing a steady increase in new cases.

Mayor Narine is especially critical of the 9pm curfew which was relaxed from 8pm on August 15 and the approval for more businesses to reopen.

He termed the recent gazetted order “a loose one” noting that “you’re giving the businesses a more kind of open-door policy to deal with the public [but] there should be more restrictions.”

“Moving the curfew from 8pm to 9pm…if you visit the city about 9, the city is still active and the city is still active 9:30pm…in the bus park and so…you will still see people out there,” the Georgetown Mayor told the News Room Tuesday.

A walk through Georgetown would show that persons are not adhering to physical distancing guidelines neither are they wearing a face mask as is required, especially in the market areas.

The City Council is responsible for the markets and was the first to institute a $5,000 fine for persons not wearing masks.

Acting Chief Constable Peter Livingstone on Tuesday told the News Room that over 200 persons were arrested and fined since March.

With the Government now moving to charge persons for not wearing a mask, the City Constabulary hopes this will also aid in its efforts.

“We are now putting in place an exercise which will see people charged because I understand that the police is now moving to implement charges through the court so we will obtain the necessary documents from them and go in that direction,” he told the News Room.

Livingstone noted that the Constabulary does not have adequate staff but works with those available to implement the COVID-19 guidelines.

The Mayor and City Council has a COVID-19 task force which will be meeting on Thursday to discuss the adherence to guidelines in the city.

The curfew was moved to 9pm on August 15 when Region Four had recorded 190 total COVID-19 cases.

To date, Region Four has recorded 351 COVID-19 cases, which are attributed to widespread testing.

The Mayor said the city did not receive any form of assistance from the Government.

“I can say this that the City did not receive any form of help from the then (APNU+AFC) Government or even this (PPP/C) Government,” he told the News Room but noted that help was received from the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO), UNICEF and other stakeholders.