All restaurants in Trinidad and Tobago will be closed from tomorrow.
This was one of several new restrictions announced by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley as he extended the Stay- at- Home order to April 30th.
"We are today, closing all restaurants until April 30th, so what I said about that arrangement for collecting food at restaurants and so on please disregard that. We are not permitting food services of any kind until the 30th of April, " said the Prime Minister.
Previously the government had issued restrictions on dining in at restaurants, allowing for patrons to enjoy curbside pick up or home delivery.
The Prime Minister also announced that effective immediately, all members of the public are to wear masks over their mouths and nostrils once outdoors. He said the government would work to distribute masks to the public.
He also announced adjusted hours for several stores.
They are:
Hardware's, including electrical and plumbing stores, will be allowed to be open from 8 am-12noon (Mon to Sat)
Stores that offer retail services such as discount stores, supermarkets, fruit/vegetable stalls, bakeries, corner shops that provide food are to be closed to the public by 6 pm.
Wholesale stores for provision of food/medicine are to be closed by 4 pm.
Pharmacies are to be closed to the public by 8 pm.
"This is the point at which we could lose control because we do not know how many persons or who they are, who might be in that category of non-travel but we do know that they are out there, " said the Prime Minister concerning the thinking that lead to these changes.
"We expect that by the 15th of April, it is quite likely, certainly that we are gonna be in a worst situation than we were when we first started out with for stay home.
And we will take additional action to intensify to compliance with that instruction, not relax it, " he said.