Acting Deputy Chief of Police, Davidson Valerie, has announced a new set of measures to eliminate the spread of COVID-19 from Dominica. The police boss stated that the stringent safety measures are necessary because of the flagrant disregard of Dominicans to the spread of coronavirus in the country.
According to national epidemiologist, Dr. Shallaudin Ahmed, the country now has 42 positive cases of coronavirus and 9 active cases of the disease.
Valerie lamented the situation whereby people ignore to wear face masks, observe physical distancing, and even congregate in large social groups for social events without bothering about the risks of COVID-19. “Effective today October 28, 2020, anyone wishing to host a public entertainment event must have permission from the Chief of Police to do so,” he stated.
Valerie went on to disclose that anyone wishing to host a social party must obtain prior permission by obtaining application forms from Discover Dominica Authority (DDA) and then sending it off to the Chief of Police through email.
He added that a monitoring team from the police and health ministry will inspect the venue of the party to verify the information submitted in the application before the public event is approved by the police boss.
He further revealed that the monitoring team will also visit during the public event to ensure that the host complies with the established protocols, and any infraction will give rise to the cancellation of the event. Social event organizers who breach established regulations twice will not be approved for any public event for 90 days.
“There must be no more than 250 people at present, inclusive of event planning staff…each patron must be allowed 36 square feet at their venue,” the Deputy Chief of Police disclosed.
Valerie clarified that parties will not be approved for hosting on streets where uncontrolled number of crowds may be gathered.
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