Her Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar has now declared the COVID19 pandemic in Gibraltar to be a Major Incident.

On the basis that there have been 56 confirmed positive cases, 42 of which are active, the response has been stepped up to a Major Incident.

This declaration officially acts as the trigger for all agencies to adopt formally an enhanced response posture. The declaration was made by the Chief Minister at a civil contingency meeting on Friday evening.

In the case of COVID 19, a command structure has already been adopted in practice and all stakeholder agencies have already been working together for the last few months in preparation. This has now been formally escalated.

This emergency structure is well rehearsed. Trials for such eventualities and different scenarios are run throughout the year to ensure that all emergency responders are ready to react in such eventualities.

The Chief Minister, the Hon Fabian Picardo said, ‘This declaration merely formalises many of the command structures which have been so effective throughout the last few weeks. During that time, we have been in daily contact with the Convent and the Ministry of Defence.’