three) and strongly recommending wearing cloth masks in public. regarding external funding, the european investment bank is collaborating with the national government to fund $60 million in emergency healthcare spending connected to covid-19. the bank's loan will assist the public health system, specifically its covid-19 treatment capacity and vaccine roll-out and storage. stages a covid-19 hotline was setup (536-4500) and four stages were defined: stage 0: no cases. during this stage preparations would be made in anticipation of the virus' arrival. stage 1: a confirmed case. stage 1 was entered on 17 march when the first two confirmed cases were announced. stage 2: limited human-to-human spread. stage 2 was entered on 21 march when the 14th confirmed case was announced. stage 3: extensive human-to-human spread. stage 3 was entered on 26 march when the 24th confirmed case was announced. facilities the government has set up four locations to be used for quarantine and/or isolation: barbados defence force's paragon base, christ church enmore, collymore rock, st. michael blackman and gollop primary school, staple grove, christ church harrison point, st lucy - the facility has a capacity for over 200 beds and received its first patients on 19 april. a team of 100 intensive care specialists from cuba will be used to boost the healthcare system, with a number of them being stationed at harrison point. testing in february, the best-dos santos public health laboratory became one of the first labs in the caribbean to be ready for covid-19 testing, having received training on 10 and 11 february on the pcr protocol as well as test kits and reagents in collaboration with the pan american health organization (paho) and the ministry of health and wellness. the first test is said to have been performed on 11 february. in addition to 50,000 test kits said to be on order through paho, on 11 april the government announced the purchase of 20,000 kits at cost from the cayman islands. as of that date the country reported 747 tests, including retests of recovered covid patients. on 20 april, minister of health and wellness jeffrey bostic announced that scope of testing would be widened as the government was in possession of 27,000 testing kits and 2,800 swaps. by that date, 1,063 tests had been performed over 68 days (75 positive). during the following 6 days 600 additional tests were performed taking the count to 1,663 completed tests (79 positive). public health emergency and curfew on 26 march 2020, prime minister mia mottley announced that the country reached 24 cases and would be entering stage three of the covid-19 national preparedness plan. as such, a public health emergency was declared and a curfew was set to start from 28 march at 8:00 pm. initially, the curfew only applied fully from 8:00 pm to 6:00 am with a request for limited movement during the day and was to end on 14 april. however, due to people still congregating in large groups it was changed to a 24-hour curfew on 3 april at 8:00 pm from which time all businesses with very few exceptions would be closed, including supermarkets and government offices, and the sale of alcohol would be prohibited. people would only be allowed to leave home for medical reasons or if they were considered to be part of or supporting essential services. on 11 april 2020 the curfew was further extended to end at midnight on the night of 3 may. on 24 april 2020, the parliament of barbados extended the state of emergency from its original end date of 27 april (30 days after it started) to 30 june based on the expectation that the country would still be dealing with the effects of the virus past 27 april. it would also allow enforcement of the curfew to its current end-date, 3 may. the curfew itself was not adjusted. impact restrictions have been placed on visitations at medical facilities and senior citizens homes, while visitations at quarantine centres, isolation centres and prisons have been prohibited. 2020's crop over and national independence festival of creative arts (nifca) were both cancelled. deaths as of 30 april there have been 7 covid-related deaths recorded in barbados, the first being announced on 5 april. there were 2 females, ages 57 and 78, and 5 males ranging in age from 52 to 95. most were announced to have comorbidities, generally either diabetes or an unspecified underlying medical condition. at least one was not a barbadian, but from another caricom nation. economy all non-essential businesses including restaurants have been closed. with the start of the 24-hour curfew on 3 april, most business were closed, including supermarkets. restrictions on some businesses eased over time, with supermarkets being able to open for deliveries and curbside pickups from 8 april, though customers were still not allowed to enter the supermarket. some supermarkets offered pre-packaged bundles with items of their choosing at bbd $25, $50, $100 or $150. village shops and mini-marts were also able to take orders and offer pre-packaged bundles. on 15 april, after reminding the population that there was no shortage of food supplies in the country, the prime minister announced that while curbside pickups and deliveries would continue, fruit and vegetable vendors would be able to resume operation, and supermarkets, fish markets, hardware stores, and banks would also be implementing a new approach where customers would be allowed to do business on property on specific days and times of the week based on the first letter of their surname. the schedule would also allot special times for healthcare and other essential workers, senior citizens and disabled people. on 20 april 2020, supermarkets and mini marts were allowed to open longer, computer stores were allowed to open for deliveries and curbside pickups, and gas stations no longer fell under the alphabetic shopping schedule. surname-based scheduling system mondaytuesdaywednesdaythursdayfridaysaturdaysunday shopping schedule 8:00 am – 11:00 am8:00 am – 11:00 am8:00 am – 11:00 am8:00 am – 11:00 am8:00 am – 11:00 am8:00 am – 11:00 am9:00 am – 11:00 am a, bseniors and disabledc, d, e, fg, h, i, j, kl, m, n, o, p, q, rs, t, u, v, w, x, y, zseniors and disabled 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm1:00 pm – 4:00 pm1:00 pm – 4:00 pm1:00 pm – 4:00 pm1:00 pm – 4:00 pm1:00 pm – 4:00 pm11:00 am – 2:00 pm g, h, i, j, kl, m, n, o, p, q, rs, t, u, v, w, x, y, zessential workersa, bc, d, e, fessential workers banking schedule 9:00 am – 1:00 pm9:00 am – 1:00 pm9:00 am – 1:00 pm9:00 am – 1:00 pm9:00 am – 1:00 pm a, bseniors and disabledc, d, e, fg, h, i, j, kl, m, n, o, p, q, r 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm1:00 pm – 4:00 pm s, t, u, v, w, x, y, zessential workers companies which support essential services are able to apply for an exception from the attorney general to be able to operate. nis would create a system with additional workers for managing the increased number of people filing for unemployment benefits. as the result of over 14,000 unemployment benefit applications being filed, nis created a separate system with additional workers for managing unemployment benefits with the goal of having the first cheques available within 10 days. the cheques would cover four weeks instead of one. education all schools have been closed and though they were initially expected to reopen on 14 april, the extension of the curfew to 3 may prevented that. some schools may look into the possibility of e-learning and distance learning as an alternative. national and regional exams such as common entrance and cxc have been postponed. travel the country's borders have not closed to commercial airline traffic though there are very few passenger flights still operating and some arriving passengers will be subject to a 14-day quarantine. statistics new cases per day deaths per day active cases per day chronology of the number of active cases in barbados deaths per age and gender deaths by age and gender (7 deaths; most recent on 29 april)