The Office of the Chief Medical Officer wishes to advise the people of St. Kitts and Nevis that as at 5:00 pm, Tuesday, March 17th 2020 there have been NO CONFIRMED CASES of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the Country.
The Federal Ministry of Health has been made privy to social media messages which suggest that a confirmed case of COVID-19 has been identified. This is absolutely false, and should be condemned for what it is. It is a malicious and mischievous attempt to mislead, and to create heightened levels of anxiety and fear among our people. These types of deplorable actions also suggest that, regrettably, there are unpatriotic elements in our community who are eager to see the adversity to which COVID-19 might subject our Nation. It is for reasons such as these repeated acts of deception that the Federal Ministry of Health continues to stress the following in all of our communications to our citizens and residents: (1) beware of the abundance of propaganda being heavily peddled on social media; and (2) rely only on official sources for information on COVID-19. The Federal Ministry of Health remains the only authorised State agency for information on COVID-19.
The general public is also hereby advised that when a first case of COVID-19 has been officially confirmed, such an announcement will be officially done via the Office of the Prime Minister, acting on the advice of the Chief Medical Officer(CMO), Dr Hazel Laws, who is the Government’s chief technical advisor on Health.
The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis wishes that our COVID-19 Task Force continues to work tirelessly and proactively in our efforts to ensure that our Country is adequately prepared for the eventual presence of COVID-19 upon our shores. Please attend tonight’s special COVID-19 town hall meeting at 7:30 pm at Newton Ground Primary School, or tune in to the broadcast on your favourite station for reliable, true and accurate information regarding St. Kitts and Nevis’ national preparations for the novel Coronavirus.
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER
March 17th 2020
