Traffic and law enforcement officials in St. Kitts and Nevis have been given the “go ahead” to start ticketing persons who are in breach of the public health and safety protocols designed to mitigate against the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
Superintendent of Police, Cromwell Williams, spoke about the matter at the National Emergency Operations Centre COVID-19 Briefing on Wednesday, May 26, 2021.
He stated:
If your passenger buses carry more than 50 percent passenger capacity, the driver would be liable to be ticketed. If the passengers are not wearing masks on the bus, the passengers would be liable to be ticketed. If you are not practicing social distancing or the sanitization measures then you will be liable also to be ticketed.
The fines of the tickets, otherwise known as fixed penalty notices, range from $100 up to $500.
We ask that persons avoid these fines,” Mr. Williams said. “We have delayed the use of these tickets for quite a long time. It means that we did not want to use them, so just comply with the regulations and the protocols, and we would not have to use these tickets.
The legal requirements for properly wearing a face mask include wearing a face covering that completely covers the nose and mouth.
Fixed penalty notices for breaches of COVID-19 public safety regulations were first introduced in August 2020.
Health authorities on both islands are currently engaged in an extensive contact tracing, quarantine, and testing exercise designed to break the chain of transmission among a cluster of COVID-19 cases.
