 Following a meeting of the National Emergency Management Advisory Committee, NIMAC and private sector organizations, the Government of St. Lucia on Tuesday announced that a state of emergency is in effect for St. Lucia as of Wednesday 3rd February 2021. This as St. Lucia continues to record increasing cases of the coronavirus amid its third wave of COVID-19. Prime Minister St. Lucia the Honourable Alan Chastney on Tuesday highlighted new protocols to take effect in an effort to safeguard the health and well-being of the public and to reduce the spread of the virus. Our country will go back to a state of emergency effective Wednesday 3rd February 2021 for an initial period of seven days. This will allow us to further restrict movement with a curfew from 7pm to 5am effective Wednesday 3rd February. The COVID-19 Act is being amended to reduce operation hours for businesses operations to coincide with this curfew. Visitors to St. Lucia will now require a PCR test within five days of arrival rather than the seven days. Supermarkets will remain open. Let me state again, supermarkets and pharmacies will remain open. So there's no need to panic by. Essential services will also be allowed to operate. The full list will be published in the revised statutory instrument on wwwcovid19response.lc The Government of St. Lucia on January 22, 2021 had instituted new measures in an effort to help curtail the spread of the virus. This included the scaling down of activities and business operations. The Prime Minister noted that as the country experiences a third wave, the strain on the health system is evident. He explained that the Government from the onset had instituted several measures to combat the virus and its impact. In preparation for the pandemic, we fully operationalized OKEU Hospital and converted the VH into a respiratory hospital, specific for COVID. We purchased equipment to create capacity for our in-country testing, reached out to the Cuban Government and recruited 113 Cuban medical professionals. We set up COVID-19 quarantine facilities initially at no cost to the returning nationals. In the early stages of COVID, we mobilized and delivered over 10,000 food and care packages to the most vulnerable, and we launched a feeding program to get thousands of hot meals to the elderly and differently abled. This provided a much needed market to our farmers. By April 2020, we launched our social stabilization plan to help the persons who have completely lost their income and the more vulnerable persons in our society. Income support was provided through the National Insurance Corporation to the tune of over 70 million, while non-NIC contributors received almost 8 million in payouts. Leader of the Opposition Honourable Philip J. Pierre has thrown his support behind the Government of St. Lucia, calling for all St. Lucia's to add head to the protocols. I must tell you that our party has always been in favour of following the professional and scientific advice as it relates to the handling of the COVID crisis. We've always said that we have to be driven by the science and the professional advice. In this regard, we have supported the Government in the protocols that have been verified by science and professionals. Leader of the Opposition Honourable Philip J. Pierre