With the Christmas season upon us and Trinidad and Tobago in the thick of a third wave of Covid-19 infections, Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley sat down for a national address on Thursday night, cautioning citizens to make safe and smart choices over the holidays. 

His address came on the same day T&T recorded its deadliest day since the start of the pandemic with 31 deaths, including a male child.

Here’s a few key takeaways from the Prime Minister’s address which lasted just over 45 minutes: 

-Citizens urged to create Safe Zones within their families for Christmas, mingling only with those in their respective bubble. Dr. Rowley also reinforced the importance of vaccination to protect loved ones, particularly those who are more vulnerable to experiencing adverse effects with the virus.

-Carnival 2022 may well be on- albeit not in its original form. PM Rowley said after extensive consultation, the festival would not see “wild public partying” but added there’s room for Safe Zone events, where some elements could be sampled.

-A light, or “therapeutic dip” as the PM called it, at the end of the tunnel? While government maintains its mandate of beaches and rivers remaining closed, Dr. Rowley revealed consideration was being given to opening the beaches in the not too distant future, tentatively from 5am until noon to allow nature lovers to have a dip while still restricting beach parties. 

-There are no plans, at this time, depsite a current wave of cases, to resort to previous lockdown measures. PM Rowley said this kind of measure would only be taken as a last resort.

-PM Rowley sounded an alarm locally, about a new Covid-19 variant detected in Botswana, which global experts fear  could possibly be vaccine resistant.

Overarchingly, Dr. Rowley urged citizens to “finish the journey” of the pandemic by being responsible and not lapsing in their efforts to curb the spread of Covid-19.