Photo:President of St. Kitts And Nevis Chamber Of Industry And Commerce, Mrs Giselle Matthews
Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 19, 2020 (SKNIS): Business owners in St. Kitts and Nevis who have permission to operate on the four partial curfew days next week are urged to ensure that they are ready to meet the needs of their customers while at the same time satisfying the Emergency Powers (COVID-19) (No. 5) Regulations approved by the National Assembly on Friday, April 17, 2020.
At Saturday’s (April 18, 2020) National Emergency Operations Centre Daily Briefing, President of the St. Kitts and Nevis Chamber of Industry and Commerce (SKNCIC), Giselle Matthews, shared advice to colleagues to adapt to the current circumstances.
“If you are allowed to reopen on Monday, and you need a few hours in the morning before opening, put a sign on your door, say that you will be open at midday, 1 ‘o’clock, whenever it is until you are ready, she advised.
Mrs. Matthews referred to some of the provisions outlined in the new regulations. She urged the management of respective companies to “mark your floors six feet apart from your cash points, mark your floors around the areas where persons line to go to cash, make sure no one comes in without a mask, make sure you have a sanitizing station or sanitization application at the front before persons come [through] your door and do the same with the trollies and baskets.”
The Chamber president said these protocols must be followed. Members of the Compliance Task Force will conduct inspections to ensure that all is in order as it relates to social and physical distancing requirements as well as other provisions outlined in the Regulation.
“They might pop in unexpectedly, and if you do not pass you might be closed, and you do not need to call the Chamber because you need to follow the rules,” President Matthews stated.
The SKNCIC has been a valued partner of the government, and the National COVID-19 Task Force throughout this coronavirus pandemic. The engagement by the government of a wide-cross section of civil society during the war against COVID-19 is in keeping with its mandate of good governance, accountability and transparency.
Approved businesses can operate on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday during partial curfew days next week.