the person had returned from french guiana to albina. on 30 may, two more cases were discovered. in both cases the original is still unknown. an epidemiological team was sent to marowijne district to investigate. as a precautionary measure, internal flights were suspended, and the bridge at stolkertsijver was closed. district commissioner yvonne pinas of boven saramacca was one of the people who tested positive. on 31 may, the village of klaaskreek isolated itself at 18:00. klaaskreek was the town where yvonne pinas had voted. the number of active cases had increased to 23. the count of 24 was erroneous and had been corrected. june 2020 on 1 june, president bouterse announced that the partial lock down would be back in effect from 18:00 to 06:00, and that all easements of restrictions would be cancelled. on 3 june, vice president ashwin adhin announced a full lockdown starting 4 june 18:00 until 12 june 06:00. people were asked stay-at-home by the government. supermarkets, bakeries, gas stations, etc. would remain open between 08:00 and 17:00. on 5 june, nieuw jacobkondre and surrounding villages were placed in quarantine. other villages in the interior were screened as well. on 6 june, danielle veira announced a total lockdown from monday 8 june until 21 june, because the soft lock down was not being respected. on 8 june, people were only allowed outside based on their surname. a second death was reported of a woman who died at regional hospital wanica. president bouterse had announced that the deceased was named haidy pinas. bouterse also announced the suspension of the country's vehicle registration system. on 11 june, it was announced that jerry slijngard, part of the covid-19 management team and director national coordination centre for emergency, was diagnosed covid-19 positive. of the 24 new infections, 11 were in the brazilian border village of sipaliwini savanna. on 12 june, a third person died of covid-19. he died at home, and because his symptoms were consistent with covid-19, he received a postmortem test. on 14 june, the government of suriname has asked the dutch government for assistance. specific details were sparse but it would have surinamers voor surinamers (su4su) included in the efforts. su4su has started a fund raising program both in suriname and the netherlands that weekend. on 19 june, a mother who was diagnosed covid-19 positive gave birth to a healthy son. on 20 june, it was announced that the lockdown would be softened from 21:00 until 05:00, starting on 21 june. on 27 june there was an increase of 76 cases. most of the cases were the result of testing in the south-east of suriname by medische zending, which resulted in further identifications of infections in most villages. july 2020 on 1 july, paul somohardjo, chairman of pertjajah luhur and coalition partner of the new government, had been diagnosed covid-19 positive. he was taken to the academic hospital paramaribo on the evening of 30 june. chan santokhi, gregory rusland and ronnie brunswijk went into quarantine, because they had been in long meetings with somohardjo about the new government. it is likely that more politicians went into quarantine. albert ramdin told de ware tijd that the transition of government and election of a new president and vice president would continue even though some arrangements and procedures had to be altered. both rusland and brunswijk had tested covid-19 positive, however santokhi tested negative. on 2 july, the national assembly meeting of 2 july was rescheduled to 6 july. president bouterse had tested negative. all members of the national assembly were tested as well, as a precautionary measure. on 3 july, dew sharman, vice chairman of the national assembly, announced that the presidential elections would be postponed to 10 july at the earliest. the presidential elections were held on 13 july. 30 medical professionals from the netherlands volunteered to assist in suriname. the first seven had left for the country on 3 july. all are experienced with handling covid-19. on 5 july, it was reported that 83 employees of rosebel gold mines had contracted covid-19. the employees have been locked down in the mines for three weeks now, and it is unclear when their quarantine would have ended. as of 6 july, educational institutions would be permitted to reopen in the upcoming examination year. schools in east suriname would remain closed and villages remaining under lockdown due to area being a covid-19 hotspot cluster. it concerns the area from stoelmanseiland up to antonio do brinco. on 17 july, the new minister of health amar ramadhin announced a new policy, with changes on the publishing of data, where it would be once a day at 20:00 (utc−3). on 20 july, a quarantine and isolation facility was to be set up at stoelmanseiland. between 11 july and 15 july, a medical team had been testing in the interior between stoelmanseiland and diitabiki, and 23 out of 32 people tested positive for symptoms. on 25 july, additional measure were announced by president chan santokhi, because the increase of cases: wearing of face masks outdoors is mandatory. keeping at least a distance of 1.5 meters for others. regularly disinfecting of your hands. august 2020 on 11 august, santokhi announced a series of new measures, requiring the use of face masks, reducing operating practices of restaurants, and prohibiting groups of 5 or people from gathering except for work, education, religious gatherings and funerals. the national curfew would be from 21:00 to 5:00 everyday until 23 august. on 19 august, health minister ramadhin told reporters that the mortuary wanica regional hospital had already reached its maximum capacity, and was critical of persons who continued to ignore measures put in place to curb the spread. october 2020 on 1 october, the new school year starts with preventive measures in place. preventive measures a soft lock down has been announced from 4 june 18:00 until 12 june 06:00. it changed to total lockdown from 8 june to 21 june. people will only be allowed on the street on certain days based on their surname. from sunday 21 june onwards, the following measures are in effect in suriname: lock down from 21:00 until 05:00. as of 6 july, 22:00 to 05:00. from 26 july until 10 august, a lock down from 21:00 until 05:00. hotels, casinos, churches, sport centres etc. remain closed. other businesses can reopen. as of 6 july, all can reopen with social distancing measures. from 26 july until 10 august, closed again. restaurants are take-away only. internal flights are possible under restrictions. limited visitation of the elderly is possible. state of emergency. the government has extended powers like taking vacant buildings and offices for the use of quarantine. public transport has been halted. as of 6 july, public transport can resume according to the health protocol. ban on gathering of groups with more than 5 people. schools will reopen on 6 july for students in their examination year. from 26 july until 10 august, wearing of masks in mandatory. east-suriname is excepted and will remain under lock down. it concerns the area from stoelmanseiland up to antonio do brinco. old measures the following measures were in effect in suriname prior to 4 june: all borders, airports and ports are closed for passengers. air travel within suriname will be allowed as of 22 may. air travel inside suriname has been suspended as of 31 may. all schools are closed. ban on gathering of groups with more than 10 people. from 10 may onward, groups with more than 50 people will be prohibited. from 2 june onward, groups with more than 5 people will be prohibited. curfew between 20:00 and 06:00. from 10 may, the curfew will be 23:00 to 05:00, but 18:00 to 06:00 on the marowijne, lawa and tapanahony rivers. from 2 june, curfew between 18:00 and 06:00. home quarantine is no longer allowed for new cases. state of emergency. the government has extended powers like taking vacant buildings and offices for the use of quarantine. public transport has been halted. businesses including hotels and sports schools can reopen as of 15 may providing they abide to the social distancing regulations. as of 22 may, markets and casinos can reopen. restrictions have been reinstated as of 2 june. repatriation 16 march at the offices of air france–klm the closure of the borders initially caused concern with both foreigners inside suriname and surinamese people aboard. suriname is a former colony of the netherlands and shares dutch as the official language, therefore there are always a large amount people going back and forth between the countries. initially some repatriation flights were allowed including flights to the netherlands, but the level of infections aboard and the identification of two cases on a flight from aruba resulted in concern. on 3 april, a group of dutch people in suriname were scheduled to be repatriated, but there was an issue with the plane which resulted it in arriving a day late. they have been housed in two hotels where they had been quarantined, because dutch citizens from guyana were on the same flight. a second plane had repatriated them on 5 april. on 7 april, danielle veira announced that the repatriation of surinamese people abroad was postponed for the time being. it was also announced that home quarantine would not be allowed anymore, because of some people kept leaving their house despite being quarantined. as of 9 april, there were 893 stranded people of which 603 were in the netherlands and 88 in the united states. a total 513 people from abroad in suriname had been repatriated. on 14 april, danielle veira contacted irene lalji, a lawyer representing a hundred stranded citizens in the netherlands, to inform her that they were preparing to schedule a first flight for repatriation that week, and increasing the capacity for quarantine. on 15 april, a group of over trinidadian 40 people within the country were reported to be in a "desperate" situation. 33 people of the group had been hired by staatsolie, the national oil company. despite multiple contacts to the consulate and caricom, no plans to repatriate them had been made. on 30 april, a chartered a plane was scheduled that was able to return them. the first repatriation flight from amsterdam to paramaribo had been announced on 19 april. on 20 april, the first 200 people were brought home. veira stressed that they would be quarantined in hotel babylon, royal torarica, and eco resort on return. on 21 april, the plane returned dutch people stranded in suriname. on 24 april, jessurun said that four bodies of recently deceased persons in the netherlands could not be flown to suriname. two of the four had died of covid-19. there is a group of cubans stranded in suriname without money. veira has indicated that a repatriation flight is being considered. on 4 may, the next phase of repatriation was announced: 6 may: belém, brazil, 7 may: guyana, 8 may: the second group of 220 people in the netherlands. the flight to belém had been postponed to 7 may to allow for brazilians stranded in suriname. 15 may: india. on 15 may, 11 out of 23 people from india had been repatriated via india. those still stranded would have to contact the embassy. as of 15 may, there would be no more repatriation flights for the time being, which has also been due to the fact that there were 576 people in quarantine. borders suriname is bordered with french guiana by the marowijne river. there is no bridge between the two countries and border traffic has to use the ferry between albina and saint-laurent-du-maroni. on 11 april, suriname and france announced joint efforts to prevent illegal crossings of the marowijne, and established a contact point in albina and saint-laurent-du-maroni. on 13 april, the prefect of french-guinea mobilized the army to guard the river for its entire length. on 15 april, john samuel, chair of the political party de nieuwe wind and former consul to french guinea, had been sent back when he tried to illegally cross the river to visit his family. a total lockdown of the rivers on the eastern border was instituted from 30 april, and concerns the marowijne, lawa and tapanahony river. essential traffic would be allowed, however people who illegally