- No Christ­mas par­ties at Govt of­fices, State cor­po­ra­tions

- Pri­vate sec­tor, fam­i­lies asked to do same

- $10 mil­lion to as­sist those af­fect­ed by bar re­stric­tions

- $20 mil­lion to as­sist af­fect­ed self-em­ployed

- Food ser­vices to re­sume in casi­nos

- Hunt­ing to re­sume

Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley has said there is to be no Christ­mas par­ties in the pub­lic ser­vice in 2020 and has called on the pri­vate sec­tor to fol­low suit.

At a news con­fer­ence in To­ba­go Sat­ur­day, Dr Row­ley said he will tell the head of the pub­lic ser­vice on Mon­day to in­struct all gov­ern­ment min­istries to car­ry out this di­rec­tive and will in­form the Min­is­ter of Fi­nance, as Cor­po­ra­tion Sole, to in­struct State en­ter­pris­es to do the same.

He said the aim to have stu­dents re­turn to school will be de­feat­ed if “we free up” dur­ing the Christ­mas pe­ri­od.

“If we’re not care­ful, the Christ­mas cul­tur­al re­spons­es could put us in a po­si­tion where the Jan­u­ary num­bers could say to us ‘no school’ be­cause we have be­haved bad­ly and the in­fec­tious rate would be so high that we can’t even think of bring­ing chil­dren back out to school,” he said.

“Do not en­cour­age con­gre­ga­tion and mix­ing over the Christ­mas sea­son,” he said.

He urged the pop­u­la­tion to note that the Christ­mas sea­son is not a time to re­lax mea­sures that have been im­ple­ment­ed to keep the coun­try safe.

Dr Row­ley said that he has learnt that al­most every vil­la in To­ba­go is booked for Christ­mas, adding that while that is good for To­ba­go from an eco­nom­ic stand­point, it means that there will be a rise in the po­ten­tial for cas­es to spread.

He said it will just take a few cas­es of mis­con­duct for the vi­ral to get out of hand in To­ba­go.

“It all has to do with the be­hav­iour of peo­ple com­ing to To­ba­go or are in To­ba­go,” he said.

Min­is­ter of Health Dr Ter­rance Deyals­ingh al­so called for a “holy but qui­et Christ­mas” with­out par­ties and fam­i­ly gath­er­ings.

He said the Min­istry of Health has asked the pri­vate sec­tor not to have of­fice Christ­mas par­ties that can lead to a spread of the virus.

He has asked that peo­ple re­ject in­vi­ta­tions to par­ties and oth­er events that re­quire gath­er­ings.

“Let’s spend a very qui­et Christ­mas this year so that in 2021 all of us will be around and we will cel­e­brate 2021 with all the bells and whis­tles and parang and so on,” he said.

Mean­while, Dr Row­ley said his Cab­i­net will find $10 mil­lion to sup­port peo­ple af­fect­ed by the down­turn in busi­ness be­cause of the re­stric­tions against gath­er­ings at bars.

He said he has al­so asked the Min­is­ter of Fi­nance to find $20 mil­lion for So­cial Ser­vices to as­sist thou­sands who are self-em­ployed and are now fac­ing des­ti­tu­tion be­cause of the re­stric­tions.

He point­ed out, for ex­am­ple, peo­ple who set up food stalls out­side sport­ing events but who are no longer earn­ing rev­enue be­cause of the mea­sures in place.

Among oth­er changes, food ser­vices will be al­lowed in casi­nos and hunters will be al­lowed to hunt again.

On Mon­day, the prime min­is­ter said, the Min­is­ter of Agri­cul­ture will take the steps to have hunters reg­is­tered so that at the end of next week­end, hunters will be al­lowed to hunt.

There has been no changes in oth­er mea­sures, in­clud­ing those placed on gath­er­ings at bars.