by Samp­son Nan­ton

Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley has an­nounced ad­just­ments to the COVID-19 re­stric­tions, in­clud­ing a full re­turn of pub­lic ser­vants to work from Mon­day, and the re­open­ing of gyms, places of wor­ship, cin­e­mas and mem­bers’ clubs with some caveats.

How­ev­er, no im­me­di­ate con­ces­sions were made for in-house din­ing at bars and restau­rants. As it stands, peo­ple will have to con­tin­ue par­tak­ing in take away ser­vices on­ly. The prime min­is­ter made the an­nounce­ment at a news con­fer­ence on Sat­ur­day af­ter­noon in To­ba­go.

The changes in­clude;

- Places of wor­ship to be opened up for ser­vices that should not last be­yond an hour. Church­es and oth­er places of wor­ship should be at 50 per cent ca­pac­i­ty and con­gre­gants should be spaced out.

- The Pub­lic Ser­vice will re­turn to 100 per cent as of Mon­day. Per­ma­nent Sec­re­taries and man­agers are be­ing called to man­age the work­places for prop­er dis­tanc­ing and sani­tis­ing.

- Gyms will be opened at 50 per cent from 6 am to 10 pm.

Brothers Christopher and Curron Gordon do circuit training at Health and Fitness Gym, Gulf View in June.

KRISTIAN DE SILVA

- Adults do­ing post Sec­ondary and Ter­tiary ed­u­ca­tion class­es which can­not be done on­line, will be al­lowed to be re­turned to in­sti­tu­tions. He not­ed, for ex­am­ples, lab­o­ra­to­ries and flight schools that re­quire peo­ple to be phys­i­cal­ly there.

- Cin­e­mas, the­atres and mem­bers’ clubs will be al­lowed to re­turn to 50 per cent ca­pac­i­ty but must in­clude wear­ing of masks. This means the con­sump­tion of eats and drinks will not be al­lowed in any of those places. They will open from 8 am to 10 pm.

- Bars and restau­rants will not be opened up for in-house din­ing and oth­er ser­vices for an­oth­er two weeks.

- Beach­es and wa­ters around the coun­try will now be re­opened. Dr Row­ley urged the pop­u­la­tion not to rush to Mara­cas Beach and Pi­geon Point, not­ing it would cre­ate the same prob­lem they are try­ing to avoid.

- Rivers and ponds are not re­opened.

- Gath­er­ings in pub­lic re­main at 10.

- Ho­tels and guest­hous­es can use pools.

- The reg­u­la­tions will kick in on Mon­day.

MovieTowne

SHASTRI BOODAN

The prime min­is­ter al­so an­nounced that a com­mit­tee is be­ing put in place to look at al­low­ing na­tion­als to come home when flights be­come avail­able, and go in­to home quar­an­tine.

He is hop­ing that the com­mit­tee can re­spond with­in a week’s time.

Dr Row­ley said the changes were made un­der very deep con­sid­er­a­tion for all.

He who told the me­dia that he lost a close friend and neigh­bour to the virus, urged the pop­u­la­tion not to sim­ply see the deaths as just num­bers. He urged all to do what they can to en­sure that more peo­ple do not die.

The prime min­is­ter added that masks must con­tin­ued to be worn at all times in pub­lic and has ad­vised that peo­ple con­tin­ue to sani­tise, wash hands and keep phys­i­cal dis­tanc­ing.

Pri­or to the an­nounce­ments, Chief Med­ical Of­fi­cer, Dr Roshan Paras­ram an­nounced that an­oth­er per­son has died from the virus, tak­ing the num­ber to 105.