Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 22, 2020 (SKNIS): Members of the COVID-19 Compliance Task Force were busy on Tuesday (April 21, 2020) visiting some 101 businesses to engage management about the Regulations contained in the Emergency Powers (COVID-19) (No. 5) that permits businesses to operate.
Chair of the National COVID-19 Task Force, Abdias Samuel, said that some of the businesses visited included supermarkets, bakeries, factories, and other small businesses. The visits primarily focused on raising the awareness of the measures by which the company is allowed to operate.
“All businesses must ensure compliance with the hygiene protocols, social and physical distancing protocols in adherence to the Regulations,” Mr. Samuel stated at Tuesday’s National Emergency Operations Centre Daily Briefing.
Mr. Samuel reminded shops that their liquor license remains suspended during the State of Emergency, and it is illegal for them to sell alcoholic beverages. This is in light of some reports that some businesses were doing such.
The Enforcement and Compliance Teams are made up of representatives from various agencies including the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force, St. Kitts-Nevis Defence Force, the St. Kitts and Nevis Fire and Rescue Service, Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise Department, the Department of Consumer Affairs, and the Department of Labour.
This week will be spent on education as the protocols in the Regulation are shared. This will be followed by a period of evaluation and then enforcement of the protocols, which also requires businesses to sanitize customers’ hands as they enter the store, as well as not admitting a certain number of customers in the store at the same time.