Malone gave that indication during the VIP’s Let’s Talk radio show last evening when asked about the absence of a lockdown for this current situation.

It was pointed out that the government implemented a lockdown last year when the territory had 26 cases but has not done so in this instance when there are more than 500 active cases.

No legislation possible for human behaviour

Malone said while government had done all it could to put various measures and services in place, it has no control over human behaviour.

“Human behaviour is the one we can’t buy, we can’t purchase, we can’t legislate and what are we going to do? [Are we] going to lock down the territory until you understand that this is a virus that is killing people throughout the world? Are we going to lock down the territory until we do what? What will we be locking down for?” Malone questioned.

He said there were even differences of opinion on the length of curfew that government should implement, with some calling for longer times and some suggesting that there should be no curfew at all.

The Health Minister further said the government’s only resort is to continue promoting the relevant safety protocols and hope that equipment purchased and facilities built for health emergencies will not end up being needed.

In the meantime, Malone suggested that the current outbreak might be due to the rapidly spreading delta variant of the COVID-19 virus. However, this is yet to be confirmed by health officials in the BVI.