In order to ensure Barbadians adhere to the established COVID-19 protocols at every level, Government will be putting in place a new team headed by a Chief Compliance Officer.
Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley made the announcement today in her address to the nation.
She said the role of the Compliance Officers was not to be confused with that of the COVID-19 Monitoring Unit.
While the Unit’s mandate was to take action against those who flouted the protocols, Ms. Mottley explained that the new team of officers would ensure there was compliance “across every area”.
She said that if Barbados was to be successful in the fight against COVID-19, it would take a measured approach, which included aggressive testing and vaccination, buttressed by compliance of the protocols.
While the Prime Minister noted that most private sector entities had perfected adherence to the protocols, the same could not be said for some government departments. She said she was not satisfied that overall “we are doing as well as we should”.
“Large government departments, particularly when somebody does not come to work every day to make sure that everyone adheres to the protocols. The risk of them not adhering to protocols in households or in communities and blocks and shops is just too much of a risk for us to carry at this point in time because of the density of our island,” Ms. Mottley stated.