WILLEMSTAD - On Wednesday 155 new COVID-19 infections were registered on Curaçao, another record. The old record was reached the day before with 124 infections. In one day 621 people were tested and 27 people were declared cured.
There are now 1,433 active infections on the island. Fourteen people with a COVID-19 infection are in hospital, two of whom are in intensive care. Seven people have died since March of this year, the government announced at the end of the afternoon on Wednesday. Almost fifteen percent of the population has now been tested on Curaçao; more than 23,000 persons in a population of 160,000.
The island has seen a significant increase in the number of infections for several weeks. The government wants parliament to pass an emergency law that gives the government the legal ability to enforce the corona measures on the island. If the law is passed, the police could, among other things, issue fines to people who fail to comply with curfew or other COVID-19 measures. This is not possible in the current situation.
The opposition strongly criticizes the law for giving the government a lot of power in emergency situations. Political parties speak of a dictatorship. Nearly three thousand people have now signed a petition against the law. But according to Prime Minister Eugene Rhuggenaath, the government "needs the tools of the emergency law to fight the COVID-19 crisis." Last Tuesday there was a whole day meeting about the law, that meeting will continue on Thursday morning.