President Luis Abinader sent a letter to the Chamber of Deputies on 18 August 2021 requesting the National State of Emergency extension for an additional 45 days. The present state of emergency expires on 26 August 2021.
The announcement comes at a time when the trend is to continue to remove curfew restrictions nationwide, given the present success of the National Vaccination Plan. The country is experiencing record lows in active cases, case-lethality and Covid-19 positivity rates. The government has announced curfew will be removed in provinces that reach 70% vaccination levels. The National District (capital city Santo Domingo) and La Altagracia have already reached the 70% vaccination levels and are now curfew-free.
Nationwide positivity is now hovering around 5%, and the most recent Covid-19 bulletin (#517) indicates there are only 5,726 active cases of a population of around 11 million inhabitants. Around 57% of the adult population is fully vaccinated.
President Abinader argues in the letter to Alfredo Pacheco, president of the Chamber of Deputies requesting the extension: “Thanks to the curfew and other social distancing measures adopted during the state of emergency, it has been possible to control the disease, which is why it is necessary to maintain and customize this, while ensuring a gradual and safe economic reopening.”
The PRM is majority in the National Congress and has the vote to extend the National State of Emergency. The declaring the country in a National State of Emergency makes it possible for the government to expedite procurement procedures.
Among the tenders now being carried out under the expedited procedures are works for the Santo Domingo Metro, the contracting of electronic devices for the Ministry of Education. The Abinader administration has also recently readied several major public works for tenders.
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Diario Libre
19 August 2021