NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The government intends to to extend the public state of emergency and emergency orders until October 31, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis announced.
The existing orders will come to an end on September 30.
In the House of Assembly Wednesday morning, which met with only 16 members, including Speaker of House Halson Moultrie, the prime minister tabled a resolution extending the orders and said Parliament will be debate the extension at the next sitting of the House.
The House is slated to meet next week Wednesday.
“I rise to give notice that at the next sitting of the House I would move the following resolution,” Minnis announced before reading the proposed resolution.
The governor general made the initial proclamation of a public state of emergency in The Bahamas on March 17.
The order was set to expire June 29, but was extended since then as the pandemic and cases in The Bahamas persist.
The extension of the emergency orders would authorize for the competent authority — the prime minister — to continue existing emergency measures to mitigate the spread of the virus.
These include the curfews, closure of prohibited establishments and other restrictions and health guidelines.
Minnis congratulated the ongoing work of the medical team and Minister of Health Renward Wells, as cases of the virus trend downward once more.
“We would note that the numbers are coming down,” he said.
“And I must congratulate those in the construction industry who [have] become more disciplined and compliant in terms of wearing the facial masks, and that may have possibly helped because now we are seeing a decrease — I can’t say at this particular time.’
Although New Providence continues to see double-digit cases on a daily basis, the number of new infections last week before to previous weeks were down, according to Chief Medical Officer Dr Pearl McMillan.
“The data shows that cumulative cases continue to reflect [an] increase in New Providence,” she said during a Ministry of Health press conference on Monday.
“Over the past week, however, incidence of new cases in New Providence have been on a decline. On average, for the last week, 40 new cases are being reported in New Providence per day.”
There were 20 new cases in New Providence yesterday, 23 new infections on the island Monday and 43 new cases on Sunday.
New Providence continues to lead cases 2,056.
