A department of government was shuttered this week to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
This was revealed by Information Minister Melford Nicholas at the post-Cabinet press conference on Thursday.
A new case that was recorded on Monday brought the country’s total number of confirmed cases to 112 with nine active cases.
“In this event, it has actually caused the closure of one major department of government because a senior public servant has come down with the condition and accordingly then entire office had to be closed and all of the staff has been quarantined or have been isolated and the contact tracing initiative has been underway”, Minister Nicholas said.
“The contact tracing exercise will pan out and will fan out into all areas”, he added, saying other government departments have also been impacted by this case.
“I can indicate to you that my Ministry, up until last evening, at least, three employees from my Ministry in two different departments have been advised that they will have to be quarantined and the exercise continues to pan out. With respect to those persons who are within the Ministry, the department that has been directly affected I guess the same thing will happen, in that if there are children in schools as a precautionary measure that they will be taken out of the school system as well and this is how it has worked”, Nicholas said.
Several employees at state media went in quarantine in late September after a staff member tested positive for the virus.
“This is one of the methodologies we are learning to live with COVID, and this is going to be the pattern as we go forward. It may not be the last and it’s unlikely to be the last time where a department of government or even in the private sector would be required to be closed to ensure that we manage an infected person”, Nicholas concluded.
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Does that mean the senior person wasn’t adhering to the Draconian rules too?
Me a ask for a friend.
The Establishment Department.
Antigua News Room:Why did you print a part of a story.What is that Major Government Department closed.That should have been the focal point of your reporting.To report the story and inform the Public.What did we learn from this story. Absolutely nothing.
Why not say which department cause many of these people get lunches delivered so it would be nice to know
Antigua and Barbuda is a very strange country because that information should not be top secret. By knowing the Department, a member of the public would know whether they did business with that Department and the probability of having coming into contact with an affected person. Isn’t that a part of the whole process of contact tracing.
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