Here’s the full text of Keith Azopardi’s opening statement at today’s COVID-19 press briefing:

The crisis we are dealing with has swept the globe in dramatic fashion. At first it was difficult to shrug off the temptation of viewing those scenes in January of the Wuhan lockdown as a far-away problem. The way it has cascaded from country to country has required the most radical of action and has changed how we used to live our lives – what we have been accustomed to. The predictions by public health experts of the consequences of inaction were dire. The virus has intruded into everything we called normal and has sent shock waves through the world economy.

This unprecedented backdrop is why I am here today alongside the Chief Minister.

We are your elected Opposition and we take our role seriously. We have very firm views of how Gibraltar should be governed and have our differences – some stark – with the Government. But I have always also said that we stand ready to work with the Government at a time of national crisis in the public interest. This is undeniably such a time.

The Chief Minister first briefed me in detail about the level of the potential crisis on the 13 March – a late Friday evening after the Commonwealth Bank holiday weekend. The information he shared with me then of the public health modelling and scientific advice the Government had received left me in no doubt that Gibraltar was facing a major public health crisis. He asked the Opposition to consider suspending the normal rules of politics and that Parliament should meet to pass emergency COVID measures only.

I convened a meeting of the Shadow Cabinet for the next day – Saturday morning – where we unanimously agreed to support the Government in this crisis and take steps to assist in the effort. I am grateful for the support of my colleagues in the Opposition during all our discussions as well as their specific work and input on individual measures during the last few weeks.

There are Opposition parties in other countries who are simply standing by, either only conducting a critical campaign or not being involved in proactive engagement.  But when we got to that particular crossroads it was clear to us which path we should take here. This is the time for political courage – to do the hard things and take the hard decisions together for the greater good of our people. The magnitude of the challenge when we were called upon to make that choice had the potential to affect many lives as well as to destabilize our way of life. We were and remain clear that it is the time to work together to get us through all this. It is the time to jointly ensure Gibraltar’s economic and social sustainability while we also protect lives. A strong Opposition is one that recognizes the need to work together and has the courage to do so effectively at the same time retaining its political integrity and continuing to ask the tough questions that our community requires at this critical time.

Since then we have been working closely with Government and I have been in almost daily contact with the Chief Minister. We supported an emergency budget on 20 March to provide Government with an extra tranche of funding for a further 6 months to allow it to concentrate on the COVID crisis. I have attended special sessions of the Cabinet on a number of occasions to provide Opposition input into decision-making directly. We have discussed the immediacy of public health and emergency economic measures. All my Opposition colleagues without exception have provided input on the various measures. On the BEAT package of measures Roy Clinton and Danny Feetham have worked on particular amendments directly with Government. Roy continues to work with the Financial Secretary on technical issues on economic measures. Elliott Phillips our Shadow Health Minister has attended public health briefings with me.  Damon Bossino, who has shadow responsibilities for the important sectors of our economy such as tourism, the port and financial services has been in direct contact with the Ministers he shadows and I expect him to work with Task Force Future as we go forward. Edwin Reyes was instrumental in shaping our Opposition view on school closures very early on and, together with Elliott Phillips, has publicly made clear our position on the provision of online education in the meantime.

I want to thank Ministers for the constructive way they have engaged with us so far.

We take the view we are all in this together and will continue to work to get Gibraltar through this crisis. Having said that we are also conscious of our constitutional role as your elected Opposition.  This has informed the rigorous debate at our various meetings and why we have, on occasion, spoken publicly on issues where perhaps our private lobbying has made less headway. But in doing so we have retained a constructive tone and intent which will mark our attitude throughout this crisis. We will continue to do so. This way we will be most effective in your interests.

The spread of the virus has been so frenetic in many places and the measures so significant in terms of how it has transformed how we do things that it is hard to believe that the actual time-frame has been relatively short. It was only on the 3 March – 40 days ago that we reported our first positive case of COVID19 in Gibraltar. Indeed, it is important to bear in mind that when the first measures were taken – to close bars on that Friday evening of our first briefing on 13 March – we had no active positive confirmed cases in Gibraltar.

By the time of the general social lockdown we had 15 cases but the rate of growth in the first couple of weeks after 16 March was significant with a 500% increase up to 23 March and a further 460% in the week up to 30 March.  At that stage the active cases were three times more than the recovered cases. By the end of the second full week of the social lockdown this had fallen to an increase of 163%. The numbers of confirmed cases has now fallen further still in the last two weeks to less than 15% and 5% respectively. The number of confirmed active cases is now smaller than it has been for a month.

That means the measures that have been taken are working. But we are not out of the woods yet. The decision today to extend the social lockdown has been taken on the basis of public health advice and for good reason. The period ahead is still critical. It is important not to lift restrictions too early – however much we want those to go away. If we act too quickly there could be a second wave. And it is important to remember that the fires that have raged in each country started with just one spark. The numbers of cases we now see in the UK, the US, Spain or Italy all started with one case. And this is a virus that circulates among us without being seen and sometimes without symptoms. On the 13 March we had no active cases and yet the numbers steadily increased. Had it not been for the lockdown we could have had many hundreds of cases. Equally there will still be cases undetected in the community so we need to wait for the possible incubation periods to pass to have a real sense of where we are. And we need to combine this with vigorous testing to have a more comprehensive statistical platform to take decisions.

Armed with that knowledge over the next couple of weeks it will be easier to take decisions.

Having said that I believe the public health backdrop makes it possible to keep restrictions under review and gradually lifted as we go forward in coming weeks and months. The current situation is globally unsustainable and would bring economic collapse as well as a number of social or mental well-being problems in its wake were it to continue unchanged for months. There will likely be changes across Europe in coming weeks. The driver for change will be our success on the public health front. We agree that Gibraltar could aim to start easing some restrictions very soon and from May as long as the scientific and public health advice on the statistical trends is supportive. There are possible freedoms that could be restored gently or measures that could carefully be taken and I have exchanged views on this with the Chief Minister. I know this is under active consideration by the Cabinet and the decision will ultimately be for the Government. And whether it is possible will very much also depend on how we all follow current guidelines. The more we all respect these the quicker we will emerge. We are supportive of the decisions being announced today that the first tier of greater liberalization should allow over 70s to exercise within a safe framework to be announced soon and for some businesses to be able to reopen under conditions that preserve social distancing. But even after some liberalization we must remain vigilant as we may need to reimpose restrictions if there is a renewed and significant spike in cases.

We will work with Government in planning for gradual exit from these measures. It is also important for there to be clarity of the principles that would govern any Exit Strategy and how these principles would be applied. High on the list of principles will be an assessment of the public health state of play, resources and comprehensive and robust testing. High on the list of how these will be applied will be the need to gradually bring back individual and commercial freedom while protecting lives. While the time to set that out in detail may not be today a clear explanation of those principles and how they will be applied to individuals and business should happen very soon. And of course, in the context of our own strategy we must, inevitably, also consider the state of the outbreak across the frontier in Spain given that the virus knows no borders.

I know that there has been tremendous discipline by everyone and I want to thank the public at large for their wide-scale respect and adherence to the rules. We do not lose sight of the frustration there may be in some quarters with some aspects of these controls and of course we would like to see these go as soon as possible. But if these are there they are there to save lives. For a sustained period there may need to be a degree of controls in different sectors and on the more vulnerable. And we will need to do things differently whether it is interacting socially or work differently. Equally we are aware the economic measures are not assisting everyone and we must find a way to bring a wider pool of people suffering economic consequences into the net. In parallel with any lifting of restrictions we need to jump-start the economy in a safe and enduring way. That may break the traditional plea for fiscal prudence we have stood for. But these are extraordinary times.

I want to take this opportunity on behalf of all my Opposition colleagues and myself of thanking healthcare workers, the essential services, civil servants, teachers and the many agencies all working together to keep Gibraltar safe and prepared for any crisis. There has been an incredible collective effort made by many which we are tremendously grateful for.

Gibraltar can be proud of many things. We have so far done extraordinarily well. But there is no guarantee this will continue. I hope that in years to come we can look back on this period and reflect on the way we dealt with this crisis – that we came together as a people in the same way we have done at other seminal moments of our history.