PM: 'Take cover' in war against covid19

The Prime Minister issued a solemn call to citizens to stay at home when possible and "take cover" as the country seeks to reduce the number of infections in the near future by restricting non-essential activities and movements.

Dr Rowley made the remarks during his address to the nation on Sunday night in which he urged the public to "let good sense prevail" as the government seeks to control the spread of the disease over the next 14 days.

As of midnight on Sunday, a temporary ban on non-essential activities took effect limiting the number of people that can be on the street at any given time.

Citing the sacrifices made by citizens in the past during the first and second World Wars, Rowley said unlike past battles, the crisis facing TT was from an invisible enemy which presented new challenges and urged citizens to do their part in fighting the disease.

"Today the instructions are to take cover, meaning stay home. Do not congregate, isolate and quarantine yourselves because this enemy we are fighting acting in some element of invisibility, we know that it passes from one person to another silently.

"Those who fought in the previous wars were of a certain kind. Today we all have to be soldiers and we have to be extra careful, our elderly citizens are more vulnerable and more troubling in recent hours we see young children are also vulnerable."

As Rowley renewed his call for non-essential workers to stay home and avoid venturing out unless for essential supplies, he noted that even as instructions passed down were the law, it should be common sense for citizens to stay at home and avoid danger.

"I've heard it said that it is the law, but in Tobago we grew up knowing that sense was made before book and the law is on the books. The most wide-ranging law in this war is the law of common sense. We expect that all along this journey, common sense will prevail."

He continued his calls for proper hygiene to be practised as it would lessen the chances of infection in TT.

Rowley said in the face of these challenges all citizens were required to do their part and act responsibly to prevent the spread of the disease.

Rowley also responded to concerns of exercise from the public saying they should make the necessary arrangements at their home.

"From tonight at midnight we expect to ramp up our response to deny the microbe easy movement from one person to another. Our ultimate goal is to ensure our healthcare preparations are such that we can deal with any situation.

"We expect in the coming weeks the situation will change, not for the better because the model shows we expect more infections and possibly more loss of life. We are trying to minimise those numbers by our response."

He called on the public to show their discipline in order to save their lives and commended health care workers for their work and sacrifice during the crisis.