Will There be Another Lockdown?

Henry Charles Usher

COVID-19 numbers are skyrocketing – it’s the highest the country has ever seen since the virus was first detected in Belize. Belizeans are alarmed and wondering what will happen next. The big question is: will we go into another lockdown? Minister Henry Charles Usher told News Five today that Cabinet continues to be advised by the COVID-19 Task Force, but that the country cannot afford to shut down or lock off as was done in the early months of the pandemic back in 2020.

Henry Charles Usher, P.U.P. Minister

“This omicron variant has really changed the ball game because it is so easily spread. Luckily, it seems that we are not seeing as severe cases as before with the other variants; certainly with Delta, we saw a lot of severe cases. We are not seeing that with omicron, but it is spreading. So we have to continue to practice the safety measures and that’s what cabinet stressed on Tuesday. To make sure that we continue to have these regulations in place: wearing of masks, physical distancing, sanitization of offices, washing of hands and so on. It is important that these continue to be in place. We also have to balance that with the economy and we have to make sure that the economy remains open. We have to be safe, but we have to be open and we have to have people working. We see a number of government departments being closed down because of this, even the Ministry of Public Service. Unfortunately, we had a minor outbreak and we decided to close for a day last week to sanitize the office. Thankfully, none of our workers are with any severe illness right now.”