Chief Minister’s Statement - Friday COVID-19 Briefing
Here’s the full text of the Chief Minister’s opening statement at this afternoon’s COVID-19 briefing:
Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen and welcome to this afternoon’s information conference from No 6 Convent Place.
This afternoon I am taking the information conference with Director of Public Health, Dr Sohail Bhatti.
Together we will review where we are in the context of the different aspects of the progress of the COVID-19 pandemic through our community.
I am of course going to start by giving you the most up-to-date statistics that the Government has available in relation to infections and hospital admissions.
I will then set out what the next stages of the Cabinet’s considerations on the lockdown will be.
I will then want to make an announcement about progress on matters related to Elderly Residential Services.
Finally, I want to go through matters relating to the BEAT COVID-19 Measures, as well as highlighting some aspects of the British Airways service to Gibraltar in the month of May.
Let me start now with the statistics.
In the last 24 hours there were a total of 31 attendances at Accident &Emergency at St Bernard’s Hospital.
Five of them had COVID symptoms.
All five were swabbed.
There were no hospital admissions overnight.
This morning there were two patients in the COVID ward who had tested negative and were waiting to be discharged.
The latest data is as follows:
Total swabs 1859
Results pending 60
Results received 1799
Of those confirmed, a total of 132 have occurred in our community of which 21 are active, recovered 111 (just like the number you need to call if you have COVID-19 symptoms).
All 21 active cases are at home and all are well.
So, those are the latest statistics.
I am very pleased to be able to continue to talk to you about statistics.
The fact is we have not yet lost a life to COVID-19, although it seems inevitable that at some stage we might.
When we do, we will not be talking about a statistic.
We will be talking about a member of our community.
A relative.
A father, a mother, a son or a daughter.
A friend.
And that is why it is so important that each and every one of us, each and every one of the residents of our community, every single Gibraltarian, should realise that we have to continue to follow the rules of lockdown.
On Monday, the Cabinet will meet again to consider the various lockdown measures.
We will be joined by the Leader of the Opposition for the whole of that Cabinet session.
The Cabinet will have to consider both the lockdown measures which affect the general population – which are due for renewal next week – and the regulations which affect our over 70s which we have now also agreed to put on weekly review .
I will ask the Cabinet to set all of the lock- down rules together into a weekly rhythm of review.
That includes the rules relating to business closures also.
We must not maintain any controls on your civil liberties in place for one moment longer than is necessary.
You have heard me say that a number of times before.
I make no apology for saying it again.
We will only ease aspects of the lockdown when we are advised it is safe to do so.
But we will not maintain any aspect of the lockdown longer than we are advised that we have to.
It is important that you have my firm assurance in that respect.
I must also tell you that the advice I am getting suggests that we will NOT be easing the lockdown measures on Monday.
I do not want to raise false hopes here in you.
We are not out of the woods yet.
The statistics we are seeing suggest things are moving in the right direction.
But we have not reached our destination.
We are nonetheless hearing loud and clear from those over 70 about the importance of exercise for you also and we will be discussing that point in the Cabinet on Monday.
We will take advice on that issue as well.
After that Cabinet meeting, I will ask the Leader of the Opposition to join me on Monday’s information conference.
In that respect it may be useful just to remind you that we are offering these information conferences in order to ensure that you get the information that you need from us.
I want you to know that you are getting all of the information that you need from your Government.
We are elected to serve you and at this time we serve you best by being entirely open and transparent with you as we always are.
And you need to know that each day at a fixed time we are ready to appear before you with all the relevant information.
The most relevant information we bring you are the statistics that we provide.
But we also provide you with information which is relevant to other aspects of the community’s approach to the pandemic.
Today I want to tell you about the establishment of a SAGGE group for Gibraltar.
On Monday, I agreed with Cabinet colleagues to create a Cabinet Committee to look at the various statistical analysis which are being considered and provide us with advice thereon.
I formed that committee after consultation with the Minister for Public Health and with the Director of Public Health.
The group will be known as the Statistical Analysis for Gibraltar Group.
The group will be led by Sir Joe Bossano.
And it will include Ernest Montado CBE, who was Chief Secretary for many years and started his time in the Gibraltar Government dealing with statistics.
And also on the group is Vijay Kumar MBE, who was the Director of Public Health until last year. He knows this community well having been in post for the better part of a decade.
And finally, the group has in its membership the Chief Statistician, Ms Claire Kelly-Federico, who has all the current Gibraltar statistics available for the Group to access.
Minister Cortes, Dr Bhatti and I agree it is important to have a check on all the statistical models currently in play and this statistical analysis group will provide that advice to the Cabinet.
Also today I want to share information on the business measures we are implementing.
In that respect, I am very proud to be able to announce that we have published the BEAT Regulations 2020.
These regulations set out the regulatory framework for the application, payment and management of the BEAT COVID-19 measures first announced by me in my emergency budget address of 20 March this year.
I’m grateful to all members of Covid Emergency Liaison and Advisory Committee.
That includes my Cabinet Colleagues, Albert Isola and Vijay Daryanani, the Leader of the Opposition, Keith Azopardi, Opposition Members Roy Clinton and Daniel Feetham, and Financial Secretary Albert Mena (as well as John Paul Fa, John Lester (Commissioner of Income Tax), Debbie Garcia (Director of Employment) and their teams) for their work on these complex regulations.
I also include in the thanks I give, Unite the Union, the GGCA, the Chamber of Commerce and the GFSB as well as the GBGA and the Finance Centre Council.
I thank everyone of them for their respective efforts.
In our most recent discussions we have widened the sectors which have access to our employee support initiative.
This will now allow security and cleaning related businesses, courier and freight businesses, estate agents, bureau de change and wholesalers who do not have a tobacco licence to apply for BEAT Covid Measures for employees that are inactive for a whole calendar month.
The regulations are available on our laws website.
And a more detailed statement will be issued later today on this subject.
Importantly, we have now seen applications for 5,700 BEAT Covid payments.
Employers have sent us about 779 emails on these measures asking us questions.
All but 9 have now been replied to.
That is a remarkable rate of feedback for an administration of our size and I fully and unreservedly commend our people for having done such a great job.
Let us be clear: this is the much-criticised public sector delivering for the private sector at a crucial time.
Additionally, there has been a phone number available for people to ring if they want to ask questions about our BEAT measures.
This will involve a huge injection now of public money into the economy designed to ensure that people are able to put food on the table during this period of a public health emergency.
If all of those applications for Beat COVID-19 were to be successful, the public purse will be putting £6.5m directly into the pockets of private sector employees this month alone.
Let’s understand that this is a measure that is designed to protect employment.
It’s not a measure to protect lifestyles or fund luxuries.
It is to ensure that there is food on the table of those who work in Gibraltar.
Of course, if you have a mortgage, you will be able to see your payments deferred on the basis of the measures being put in place by the banks.
If you are paying rent, we have also announced measures to ensure that landlords reduce, defer or waive those rents.
This means that you only need finance for survival purposes in this period and this is what we have been able to deliver in record time.
Whoever talks of more generous systems elsewhere has not realised that those systems are not going to produce payments for months and will not deliver the cash needed now to inactive employees.
Our system produces money now because it is needed now in particular by those who are lowest paid in our economy.
Coming back now to health-related matters, I am happy to announce today that an isolation unit has been developed for Mount Alvernia in the area of a cottage on the grounds of that facility.
The cottage will be available for use as from tomorrow.
Our sincere thanks go to GJBS for their quick work on this project and to Antonio Marin and Susan Vallejo for their work on this and all other aspects of the work at ERS.
And sincere thanks also to all ERS staff – whether employed directly or through MEDDOC.
You’ve all done a great job.
Thank you for your diligence in keeping COVID-19 out of the ERS facilities.
The other information I think it is important for you to have relates to the BA Schedule for May.
For the four weeks in May, British Airways will be flying to Gibraltar on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
This provides for a more even spread of flights during the week.
And indeed, this is a helpful lifeline with London for people, post, cargo and all other relevant, permitted uses.
Finally, before I round up today I must highlight also that our 20041818 COVID-19 call centre has proved to be a great success, and I would like to thank the team of call handlers for handling a vast range of calls.
Remember: call 111 for COVID-19 medical issues and 20041818 for general COVID-19 issues.
But if it is an emergency, please still call 190 or 199.
And of course, please remember to wash your hands as often as you can.
You are not washing your hands often enough unless you are tired of washing your hands.
Our hands are the most efficient vehicles for the transmission of the virus.
And cough or sneeze into a disposable tissue and bin it as soon as you are able.
These are the little things that will have a big effect on stopping and slowing the spread of the virus affecting our community.
AND REMEMBER, WHATEVER THE WEATHER THIS WEEKEND THE RULES OF LOCKDOWN STILL APPLY – STAY HOME.
WE ARE STILL IN THE MIDST OF A PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY.
WE ARE NOT OUT OF THE WOODS YET.
