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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, April 05, 2020 (Press Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister) – The National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) has commissioned its Quarantine Compliance Task Force to ensure persons who are under quarantine and isolation orders stay indoors and follow the necessary guidelines outlined.

This comes as the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis moves to intensify its efforts to contain the spread of the COVID-19 disease (Novel Coronavirus).

The Quarantine Compliance Task Force is being headed by Comptroller of Customs, Mr. Kennedy De Silva. The leadership of the task force also includes Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ms. Kaye Bass and Chief Immigration Officer, Mrs. Merclyn Hughes.

The task force is also comprised of officers of the St. Kitts and Nevis Defense Force, the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force, the Customs and Excise Department and officials from the Ministry of Health.

The Quarantine Compliance Task Force is responsible for ensuring persons who are self-quarantined and/or isolated understand what is expected of them and ensuring that these individuals comply with the quarantine guidelines that are set out. The enforcement officers attached to the task force provide the necessary support to the initiatives of the Ministry of Health.

Mr. De Silva, while speaking with the Press Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister, strongly urged persons who are quarantined and isolated at home to comply with the various guidelines, and noted that action would be taken against any quarantined person found in violation.

“I just want to encourage persons who are under quarantine to abide by the guidelines so that we can avoid a situation where we have a multiplier effect where one person goes on and infect three or four others and so on,” Mr. De Silva added. 

The head of the Quarantine Compliance Task Force further advised persons who are quarantined at home to reach out to close friends and relatives to assist them in obtaining essential food and medicines to avoid venturing outdoors and in so doing, become non-compliant.

As at 3pm on Saturday, April 04, there were a total of 268 persons quarantined at home, 34 quarantined in designated facilities and another 10 persons who are in isolation.

To date, there have been 10 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 virus in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis.