Statement by His Excellency the Governor, Mr. Augustus Jaspert

On the start of the Curfew

27^th March, 2020

Good evening all. It is just past eight o’clock and the Territory wide curfew is now in place and will remain in place until 6:00 a.m. on Thursday, 2 April. All of you should now be in your homes.  And you should now not leave them until next Thursday.

To reiterate what I said last night, unless you are classified as an essential worker as set out by our government and communicated via social media channels today, you will be required to stay at home continuously from now until 6:00 a.m. on Thursday, 2 April.  This means that for this entire period – you should not go out, you should not be on the streets at any time during the day or night.   

This applies to everyone. My family and I are at home and will remain at home for the duration of the curfew.  I will only leave my home for essential business. Cabinet will be meeting almost daily, but meeting remotely to ensure that we are also following the critical guidance.  Essential staff should only be out when they are on duty.   This curfew applies to each and every one of us.

This means not leaving your house for any reason unless it is an emergency.  Police will be patrolling and will enforce the curfew and can arrest for breach of the curfew if necessary. 

We know this is difficult but these measures we are taking through Cabinet are driven by one motivation; to protect you and to protect the overall population of the Territory.  This is our best chance to reduce the risk that the Coronavirus spreads in our Territory.   The better we comply with staying at home the better the chance that is a short disruption to our lives.

Once again, I want to thank all staff in our public and statutory agencies for all that they are doing. In particular, I thank our dedicated health teams and all in the police service as well.

I take this moment to wish you all to stay healthy and may God bless this Territory and I thank you for complying with what we are asking you to do.

Thank you and God Bless this Territory.