CM signals return of ‘some’ economic activity as early as May 2

Some economic activity in sectors impacted by Covid-19 restrictions may be able to resume by the end of this week, Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said on Monday, as the Gibraltar Government prepares to finalise and publish its lockdown exit strategy.

The Cabinet scrutinised the first draft of the exit strategy document on Monday morning and its contents will be shared with the Leader of the Opposition, Keith Azopardi, before some details are made public later this week.

This follows the easing of restrictions in respect of the over 70s and comes as both the UK and Spain work to refine their respective lockdown measures.

Speaking at the daily press briefing Mr Picardo said: “I hope to be making announcements before the end of this week as to some of the dates when some activity will be able to return and I hope the document will be available before the end of this week, although it may not be.”

“But we will still go ahead and be able to make some announcements about what may be expected to happen at the beginning of May.”

“Some economic activity may be able to return as from the first working day in May, which would be Saturday the 2nd,” he added, without providing any further detail.

The exit strategy may have to be a “dynamic” document, Mr Picardo said, explaining that it may change as the science and understanding of the virus changes.

“We may do things which we may have to undo, or we may think we can’t do things which later we get advised we can do,” he said.

This comes amid low numbers of infections in Gibraltar, which remained unchanged from Sunday at 141 total confirmed cases, and the absence of serious cases or deaths in Gibraltar.

But Mr Picardo warned that the situation is ever-changing.

He said: “We cannot get over confident in respect of a virus which is still very much in our community and is likely to remain a part of our world for many months or years to come.”