The island country, Cape Verde has banned end-of-year celebrations as they scramble to contain a surge in coronavirus cases.
The country’s prime minister, Ulisses Correia e Silva stated on Tuesday that the country was returning to an emergency situation, requiring a negative test for access to restaurants and banning social meetings.
A bar operator in the capital Praia welcomes the measure. He said: “The biggest loss would be if we were to host an end-of-year party and contribute to making the health crisis worse,” he said.
“For us it isn’t a loss, we can even see it as a gain. Helping the public health is more important than financial profit,” he added.
The country registered over 500 new virus infections last week, an all-time high. Authorities have also made it compulsory to wear masks in public.
But some have criticised the measures as an overreaction. Most of Cape Verde’s Covid cases occur in the capital Praia. Since the start of the pandemic, the archipelago has logged nearly 40,000 Covid-19 cases.