In December 2019, health officials in Wuhan, China informed the World Health Organization ("WHO") of a strain of "pneumonia" affecting members of its population.1 This "pneumonia" was later identified as a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 ("COVID-19"). On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic.

Approximately one week after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, Barbados recorded its first two cases of COVID-19 and on March 26, 2020 the Government of Barbados implemented Stage 3 of the National Preparedness Plans when a public health emergency was declared. The Emergency Management Act, Cap. 160A of the Laws of Barbados (the "EMA") was amended to make provision for the declaration and management of a public health emergency. Under the EMA, "public health emergency" is defined to mean an emergency declared under the EMA "as a result of a person or an animal having a communicable disease or a notifiable disease."

On March 26, 2020, the Government of Barbados also imposed a curfew for the period March 28 to April 14, 2020, between the hours of 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. confining persons to their places of residence during curfew hours. The curfew was later amended for the period April 3, 2020 to April 14, 2020 to occur between 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. and subsequently from April 15, 2020 to May 3, 2020 between the hours of 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. Today, Barbados remains under a public health emergency and a national curfew. The remainder of this article provides a general regulatory update.

Read the entire Regualtory Update below.