Government Says Accelerating Unlocking Isn’t Sensible
The Government says the Leader of the Opposition's recent statements are contrary to the public health advice the Government is receiving.
A statement from the Government follows below:
The Leader of the Opposition needs to make clear the basis of his statement that the Government should accelerate the Unlock the Rock process, to which he himself contributed fully.
The statements he is making are contrary to the public health advice the Government is receiving.
The Chief Minister said: “We have been very lucky so far that, in keeping with the prudent design of the various unlocking phases, we have zero active cases in Gibraltar. The latest key stage of this was, in the Government’s view, the loosening of restrictions at the border with Spain a week last Friday. We are keeping a close eye on cases and continuing with our aggressive testing plan to ensure that we can keep a lid on any future emergence of the virus in Gibraltar, something we consider inevitable.”
“The Government remains committed to doing what it must to control the spread of the virus in Gibraltar. This is the reason why, in response to the scenes witnessed at Chatham Counterguard last weekend, the Government took the unpopular but correct decision to impose a curfew of midnight on ALL establishments, with immediate effect. Imposing a midnight curfew is not the only action we have taken, given the scenes widely reported on Friday. Following a meeting called by the Office of Civil Contingencies on Tuesday, officers of the Environmental Agency have met with all establishments at Chatham Counterguard and all of them will be written to in order to remind them of their obligations. The Environmental Agency is working closely with the Royal Gibraltar Police in relation to an enforcement strategy: any establishment that does not adhere to the rules and conditions in its permit risks its withdrawal.
“The Government has to continue to do the right thing and not fall into the trap of just doing the popular thing, as the GSD already seems to be doing. As it stands the rules on gatherings of no more than 12 is being renewed on the advice of Public Health Gibraltar after lengthy discussions of the coordinating group. This was not a decision that was taken lightly. These rules will be renewed for 30 days but reviewed on the 29th June.”
“The Official Opposition has, in one breath, complained about the scenes at Chatham Counterguard and in the next breath is advocating for a further and faster relaxation of the rules and limitations necessarily imposed on our people. This is highly contradictory and we cannot afford this lack of logical consistency on this issue at this stage. This lack of consistency sends mixed signals, making yet harder a situation which is already a challenge. Compliance with the rules and restrictions is a critical component of our continuing battle with Covid and it is our hope that the Opposition might move to rationalise their position in this regard and maintain a consistent line during the coming weeks and months.
“The war with Covid is far from over. We cannot let our guard down. Zero cases is a good reason to complete the path we embarked on in April and not a reason to allow complacency to lead us into recklessness.”
