News Americas, BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Tues. Feb. 16, 2021: With 2,268 cases and 25 deaths, one Caribbean nation will remain on lock down.
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley on Monday said the lockdown there will continue through Feb. 28th as the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths continued to climb.
Mottley’s announcement came a day after the island recorded the first death of a healthcare worker due to the virus. The lockdown is expected to impact the island tremendously, with the PM estimating a loss in economic activity of about BDS$150 million (US$75 million) as a result of the extended lockdown.
The island’s 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew will remain in place until February 28th. The only changes are that the post office will reopen on Thursday to facilitate the cashing of pension cheks; remittance offices will also open; and minimarts, which were not allowed to operate during the lockdown, will be allowed to open Mondays to Fridays, like the supermarkets.
Both minimarts and supermarkets will, however, be closed on weekends.
A Queen Elizabeth Hospital nursing assistant died on Sunday, as a result of COVID-19. She passed away at the Harrison Point Isolation Facility where she had been a patient for nine days.
The nursing assistant’s death brings to 25 the number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 since the first case there in March 2020.
