A shutdown of Saint Lucia’s non-essential commercial services is being proposed, Prime Minister Allen Chastanet announced Friday.
“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 and the intensity of our economy at this point,” Chastanet told a news conference.
“The programme will begin on Monday, March 23 until Sunday April 5 in the first instance and certainly depending on the success of that programme 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 and whether we can pull back,” the PM stated.
He stated that 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 on line 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. See BAHAMAS CHRONICLE at https://stluciatimes.com/pm-announces-shutdown-of-non-essential-commercial-services/
