Chief Minister’s Statement - Thursday COVID-19 Briefing
Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen.
I want to thank you all for tuning in to this information conference from No6 Convent Place.
RAMADAN
Before I start my statement this afternoon in earnest, let me wish all members of our Muslim community a happy first day of Ramadan.
This Ramadan will be different to others – as has Easter and Passover.
I do hope you will all be able to observe the important parts of your rituals, even without the ability to worship together.
SUMMARY
This afternoon I want to give you information on the latest statistics we are dealing with on the spread of COVID-19 through our community.
I will then talk about the renewal of the general lockdown regulations.
Then I will also talk to you about the first payments now being made under the BEAT COVID measures.
I will then ask Steven Linares, Minister for Housing, Youth and Sport to address you on some aspects of how his Ministries have been working on these matters during the COVID emergency.
STATISTICS
So, ladies and gentlemen, today the total number of tests undertaken so far in Gibraltar for COVID-19 is 2,062.
The results pending are 76.
The results received are 1,986.
We have had 133 identified cases of COVID-19 in Gibraltar.
Of these, 129 are recovered and 4 remain active.
There are no COVID cases in our hospitals.
There have been no COVID deaths in Gibraltar.
It will not be lost on you that the number of people presently reported as having been detected as being positive with the virus is very low indeed.
We have only four infected individuals detected.
Our success in keeping that number low may be our greatest challenge in persuading you that the lockdown rules must continue.
But as we start to do more random testing, we will likely find many more asymptomatic carriers are present in our community.
So please do not think that we have beaten the virus.
Do not think it is now safe to go out with impunity.
It is NOT.
I want to be blunt, clear and honest with you:
The virus is out in our community and you would be foolish to relax your attitude to remaining safe indoors because the sun is shining or the numbers of infections detected is low.
And also remember that the virus is out in abundance in Spain and in the United Kingdom, from where we will see people access Gibraltar – perhaps, subject to some controls in the future.
LOCKDOWN RENEWED
For that reason, as we agreed on Monday and I announced with the Leader of the Opposition, we have overnight renewed the lockdown rules affecting all of our population.
The new regulations will take effect from today and have already been passed into law by the Minister for Civil Contingencies, Samantha Sacramento.
So please be clear – THE LOCKDOWN RULES CONTINUE.
The new rules have been passed into effect for another 30 days.
But they will be reviewed every Monday.
Remember I have told you that we will not allow these rules to remain in place for one moment longer than is necessary.
But neither can they be lifted – in whole or in part – one moment before we are able to confidently lift them.
REVIEWS
And so, on Monday, we will review not just the rule relating to the over 70s, but also the rules relating to the general population that we have renewed today.
Remember also that in Gibraltar our rules have been designed to be more permissive than elsewhere.
Here, you have always been able to go out for exercise if you are under 70 and children have always been able to go out at least once each day.
EXIT STRATEGY
That is why we are designing a bespoke exit-strategy for Gibraltar, which we expect to be able to publish very soon.
In preparing that strategy we will be following the recommendations set out by the World Health Organisation.
And we will have regard also to the advice and strategy being pursued in England, in Scotland, in Germany and in Spain as well as in other countries and areas.
We are look at every relevant piece of advice and example to prepare the best bespoke and most effective strategy for Gibraltar.
But let us be clear:
That strategy is not going to be about returning to normal.
Because we cannot return to normal for now.
It is going to be about living with the virus for now.
Social distancing is therefore unfortunately here to stay.
That will potentially mean temperature testing at entry points to Gibraltar or entry to businesses being controlled also with temperature access controls or areas of Gibraltar being controlled by temperature access controls.
This may also involve guidance on the use of masks going forward.
It will likely involve a very different way of going to the beach this summer and it will involve people being encouraged to self-identify if they have the symptoms of the virus and to self-isolate without fear of financial loss when they do so.
The future may also involve very aggressive testing and even more aggressive contact tracing and where necessary the imposition of self-isolation.
It may involve new apps deployed on your phones.
We are already talking to the UK Department of Health and Google and Apple about these opportunities via colleagues in the Foreign Office with whom we have been working closely during the course of this public health emergency.
Additionally, we may also bring into use other technologies which we already have in place in Gibraltar, like our GIS system or our NSCIS systems being brought in to play to work together.
But if these technologies can be used to help is with the virus, we will be using them in a way that protects your privacy and your data as much as possible.
We will tell you much more about this as these opportunities develop.
And, I repeat, the foreseeable future will involve social distancing continuing.
It will involve businesses returning to a different world.
We will give you much more detail on all this as it develops.
I do think it is important to take a moment though, as we plan the future, for us to take stock and reflect on what has happened.
The fact is that science has helped us identify this problem.
But it is not yet helping us to solve it.
Why are we in lockdown?
Because we know the virus kills but we do not know how to cure patients or immunise patients.
And cure or vaccine are further away than we would want them to be.
So we have, in effect, had to resort to a quite blunt approach to slowdown the virus.
We have simply had to get out of its way.
We have had to retreat into our homes to avoid catching the virus.
To an extent, we have learnt the humbling limits of humanity’s abilities.
Our scientific knowledge, even our ability to map the human genome, has not yet been enough for mankind to harness a response, cure or immunity to virus.
That really is worth pausing to reflect on.
To an extent, COVID-19 has really put us in our place!
So please remember if you go out, you put yourself at risk.
You also put at risk the GHA’s ability to deal with other cases.
So please, only go out if you have to and in keeping with the rules.
And that includes those of you who feel the most frustrated.
Those of you who feel the bravest.
You could be dead within 21 days of contracting the virus.
Whatever your age.
Especially however, if you are over 70.
And I do not want to lose ANY of you to Coronavirus.
Whatever your age or your vulnerabilities.
So please understand that I fully sympathise with your frustrations.
And we will soon be giving you details of how we will permit exercise for our over 70s and introduce other flexibilities.
But for now, we are doing what we have to.
Frustrating though it is, and with the consequences we fully appreciate our rules have for your civil liberties.
Of course, as a result, we do not presently have a fully functioning economy.
BEAT COVID MEASURES
That is why we have had to design our Business and Employee Assistance Terms or our BEAT COVID Measures.
And today, we are making our first payments in respect of this scheme.
We are starting to make payments which will total in the region of £5m in the next couple of days.
These payments relate to the majority of the claims made up to last week.
They represent 4,500 employees in our economy.
They are employed by 750 employer companies who have claimed on their behalf.
Also being paid is a sum close to £310,000 in respect of 355 self-employed persons whose claims have been approved for payment.
Another 750 applications have been received and have to be processed and assessed.
That could push the total amount paid to the region of £6m just this month.
A fuller statement, with more statistical information, will be shared with the Leader of the Opposition and the Cabinet as well as with members of CELAC.
Once all applications for the month of April have been fully processed, a full statistical statement will be issued with breakdowns for the general public.
I must also tell you that we have received over 1,000 emails on enquiries in respect of the BEAT COVID measures.
These have ALL now been replied to by a team made up of John Paul Fa, Patrick Canessa, Ishbel Armstrong, Carl Rammage, Alison Cruz, Gerard Teuma and his team at the Ministry of Business, John Lester and his team at the Tax Office, Debbie Garcia and her team at the Employment Office and Charles Santos and his team at the Treasury.
This has been a magnificent effort led by Albert Mena as Financial Secretary.
They have become the midwives of this aspect of this project to keep our economy alive and jobs and working people protected and with the income that they need to put food on the table at this difficult time.
A large portion of all employees in our economy are therefore now on the Government's books for this month.
But our spending now is to stave off social and economic collapse.
We will achieve that.
And I think we have made history here – especially for such a small administration – and we must appreciate how much work has gone into getting money out of the door quickly, properly checked and to the right recipients in such a short space of time.
And how we have calibrated this – working with unions and business representative organisations.
And also with an unprecedented level of cooperation and collaboration with the Leader of the Opposition and his Shadow Cabinet team.
Using Government to harness together all of the advice possible from across our economy.
And deploying all of the talent in the public service to make it a reality.
Exactly what you would have expected from us in this time.
Of course, the £6m that I have referred to does not include the amount of revenue that we have foregone in the past month and which will also greatly impact the bottom line in respect of the public finances.
And so, going forward, we will have to cut our coats to fit our cloth appropriately.
Remember this level of spending on our balance sheet has no precedent in history.
Not even in periods of war or of the closed frontier.
In those days, it was the UK spending.
UK support and sustain during the period of the closed frontier.
This is the first time that we are looking to sustain so much increased expenditure on the basis of just our own revenue.
Paying our own way.
So, when CELAC meets this week we will be looking also at what we can do to help businesses in coming months and what businesses might be able to come back, already, if with some precautions in place.
Because that will lead to the best way for us to produce revenue in coming months.
As well as looking at how we raise revenue in different ways in coming years.
Because we have arrived at this crisis with the firepower to do this.
But we have a duty to preserve our prosperity for future generations and ensure that we keep our finances strong for coming years as we come out of this crisis also.
CONCLUSION
Finally, I just want to remind you of this.
We are not out of the woods yet.
It is not yet even half time.
We have not beaten the virus.
It may not even be the end of the first quarter.
You have to be clear about that and not put yourself in danger of contracting the virus.
But I do feel we may now finally be at the end of the beginning.
Happily, we are also at the end of the beginning of this information conference.
And I am now very happy to invite my good friend, Steven Linares, to address you on the important work that his Ministries have been undertaking in the past weeks during this pandemic.
