Police to find “creative ways” to enforce COVID-19 curfew

Police to find “creative ways” to enforce COVID-19 curfew – Nagamootoo

Apr 05, 2020 News

By Shikema Dey

To keep the number of COVID-19 cases down in Guyana, the Public Health Ministry on Friday implemented a month-long curfew order.

Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo

The order in place outlines a number of measures including persons being restricted to their homes with only essential workers allowed out.
The restrictions have halted all crowds at weddings, funerals and religious places of worship, creeks and pools. But even with the curfew system activated, it is clear that some people are not heeding the measures invoked by virtue of the order. At some hotspots in the city large crowds of persons have continued to gather void of protective gear and other recommended measures to safeguard themselves while in the public domain.
When asked what would be done to ensure the enforcement of the curfew, head of the National COVID-19 Task Force and Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo, stated that the police will have to find “creative ways” to do so.

A minibus packed with passengers despite the COVID-19 orders

A crowd of persons standing near downtown Stabroek Market yesterday

At the time speaking during a virtual media conference yesterday, Nagamootoo explained that the measures “have to be enforced by the police”.
He said too that, “those who are violating the law, they will have to suffer for the violation.”
“It is the same with the taxi and the minibus…if they are not maintaining this order, this is law; and if it says maintain one half of your capacity then it shall be one half your capacity. It is not going to be may or maybe. It shall be. It must be.”
Nagamootoo, however, pointed out that incarceration is not being viewed as an option to deal with defaulters as this can pose a serious health risk to the already sanitized prison facilities.
“In some situations, you can’t think about putting people in prison because there would be no space to hold them and then if you take people from outside and bring them in, you may be contaminating the sanitized prison with those who might have been infected.”
“Maybe we need to have a creative application in relation to those who continue to feel that they can pack their mini vans and their taxis like sardines endangering the lives of others,” the PM said.Expounding on his “creative ways” comment, the head of the task force referenced clips from social media showing police in India beating residents who violated the curfew.
“The police men were out there with their bamboo and they were beating those guys who flouted the curfew. And this worked because the streets were cleared.”
The Prime Minister noted he has high hopes that with increased police presence, persons will adhere to the curfew and, if not, the police can use strict measures to ensure that the order is followed.
“This is me talking…if it’s necessary to go into the bars, if they got to pull them out of the bars by their ears, I will say yes, get them out, send them home. And that’s the way to go,” said Nagamootoo who is all for “strict enforcement or else these measures gonna be a laughing stock.”

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