St George’s – One month before the state of emergency (SOE) was due to have expired, Grenada on Tuesday announced that it has revoked the measure as the island moves towards a certain level of normalcy, relaxing several measures that had been in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The authorities have also announced that people would no longer need to show their vaccination cards to determine their status and are not obligated to wear masks.
Parliament had approved the SOE in November last year and Governor-General Dame Cecile La Grenade revoked the measure.
“In relation to the COVID-19 regulations, the proclamation of the Governor-General revoking the State of Emergency was Gazetted on 4th April, 2022 in accordance with section 17:3 of the Constitution. As such, I am in a position to confirm that the state of Grenada is no longer operating under a state of emergency,” Attorney General, Dia Forrester, told the weekly post-Cabinet news conference.
“In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic we no longer have restrictions on the movement of people, the operations of businesses, the mandate to wear masks and maintain physical distancing, the mandate to demonstrate one’s vaccination status to access services, and all other features of the COVID-19 Emergency Powers Regulations as those have now been repealed,” she added.
Forrester told reporters that other public health measures, including the Quarantine COVID Regulations, which had been put in place to restrict travel and allow for testing of passengers prior to arrival and or on arrival in Grenada, have also been discontinued.
“We are therefore operating without the need for testing prior to or on arrival to Grenada. Likewise, there is no need for individuals to be quarantined. This change in the Quarantine COVID-19 Regulations thus needs the approval of Parliament to formally be removed from our laws and the government will shortly be proceeding to Parliament to guarantee that process.
But at present, we are operating as if they are formally part of our law,” she added.
The Attorney General said that the Public Health COVID-19 Regulations will continue to be in place but only to the extent they are needed for the purposes of monitoring and screening to determine the status of COVID-19 in Grenada and to take measures if the need arises.
“At the moment, we are all trying to live life with COVID-19 and I encourage all individuals to take measures to protect themselves as they deem fit,” said Forrester, who believes that sanitisation is a positive public health practice.
Grenada has recorded 218 deaths and 14 024 infections from the coronavirus after the first case was recorded here in March 2020. (CMC)
