Fight against COVID-19 |25 April 2020

The security committee during the meeting yesterday (Photo: Jude Morel)

Public commended for their good cooperation

By Patrick Joubert

The committee put in place to oversee security measures during the coranavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the country has praised the public in general for respecting the measures in place to fight the virus.

Assistant commissioner of police Ted Barbe, a member of the committee, told the press that save for a few people who failed to comply with the restrictions in place, the committee is generally satisfied with the behaviour of the majority of the public in that respect.

“I want to thank and praise the public in general for the good cooperation they have given the law enforcement personnel through complying with the restrictions in place for the past days and weeks,” assistant commissioner Barbe said.

The high-level committee, chaired by President Danny Faure, met yesterday at State House for its second weekly meetings to discuss successes and challenges of the on-going security measures, with regard to restriction of movement being manned by the police, among others, to combat the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the country.

The restriction of movement is during the whole day but more severe at night where nobody is allowed on the streets or anywhere else, apart from their homes, between 7pm and 6am the following day, unless they are classified as critical workers with special permission and they are also on duty.

Other departments and authorities on the security committee at yesterday’s meeting at State House were the department of risk and disaster management (DRDM), the health department, the department of legal affairs, the police force and the defence forces.

With regard to the fairly large number of people roaming around during the day, assistant commissioner Barbe noted that the police have distributed a fairly large number of travel passes to essential workers which answers to the number of people in circulation along with other people going to banks and doing shopping.

He stated that the police on Mahé, Praslin and La Digue are practically on the same work tempo where the road blocks and check points have been successful, resulting in the detection a few unlicensed drivers and vehicles.

Assistant commissioner Barbe stated that other crimes unrelated to COVID-19 have been very minimal thanks to the movement restrictions, where everybody is a home and the road blocks and check points which have acted as deterrents.

He stated that the police have recorded mostly a few break-ins, considered as very minimal, while the majority of offences include non-compliance with the prohibition orders in relation to COVID-19.

He refuted allegations that the police have intercepted a boat involved in illegal activities behind Ste Anne Island and noted that the Seychelles Coast Guard, working jointly with the police, will no doubt  intercept any suspected vessels during this time of the pandemic .

Assistant commissioner Barbe called on people to, in the coming days, keep abiding by the restrictions and measures put in place by the public health authority, especially with regard to social distancing, with the aim of achieving better results in fight against the virus.

Patrick Joubert