Government and Opposition will today debate the Motion filed by the government last week to extend the State of Emergency by possibly up to three more months. The current SOE ends officially on August 29th at midnight.
The Prime Minister is in record as saying that the extension is necessary to curtail unnecessary ‘freedom partying’ and congregation which may facilitate the spread of the Delta variant of covid-19.
He also said given our present vaccination levels in the country, we could again end up in the precarious position related to infections and hospitalisations of weeks ago, which pushed the parallel health care system to the brink of capacity.
Meanwhile, leader of the Opposition Kamla Persad Bissessar says that the Government is yet to properly explain why there is a need for a continued State of Emergency in Trindad and Tobago. Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley made a case for keeping the 9 pm to 5 am curfew and for extended the State of Emergency (SoE) by an additional three months.
Speaking at the UNC’s Virtual Report last evening, she said the Prime Minister’s recent explanation that the SOE remains necessary because of the vaccination drive is confusing. She said the data does not support the need for an extension of the SOE. She also said the Public health regulations are enough to deal effectively with controlling the spread of the virus.
The debate is set to begin at 1:30 this afternoon in the House of Representatives.
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