The Senate in the Dominican Republic on Wednesday unanimously approved a request by President Luis Abinader for an extension of the state of emergency for 45 more days to combat COVID-19, and continue social distancing measures.
The request was delivered while the session was taking place and was immediately put to a vote and obtained the approval of the senators.
The Presidency’s request, approved unanimously, would be the seventh extension since the first state of emergency established on March 19 to face COVID-19.
Meanwhile, the Public Health Ministry on Thursday said COVID-19 has killed 17 Dominicans in the last 24 hours in the Dominican Republic, bringing the number of deaths to 1,630. In addition, 407 new cases were reported. The country now has 92,964, the highest number of cases in one country in the Caribbean region.
The Dominican Republic’s outbreak of COVID-19 has affected the neighboring Haiti, which leads the CARICOM countries in the number of cases, with over 8,000 confirmed cases.
Many Haitians that lived in the Dominican Republic have fled back to their home country as agencies like the UN Migration Agency have been introduced initiatives to monitor the border.
