Haiti to reopen portion of textile industry - sportstextiles: Lea SportsTextiles

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Haiti to reopen portion of textile industry

17/04/2020
Haiti’s prime minister, Joseph Jouthe, has said the country will reopen its key textile industry next week, Reuters has reported. By imposing early strict restrictions to limit the spread of the coronavirus, Mr Jouthe said, Haiti may have avoided a worse impact from the coronavirus pandemic. 

Although the country typically struggles to fight disease outbreaks, Haiti has only recorded 41 cases and three deaths, according to Reuters. This is attributed to the low number of tourists it  receives and the government's swift decisions to declare a state of emergency and close borders, schools, places of worship and industrial parks when just two cases had been reported. 

The initial term of the state of emergency soon ends and the government is still contemplating whether it should be extended; however, the textile manufacturing sector, which accounts for 90 percent of exports, is to restart from Monday.

Safety measures will be in place, including textile manufacturing to begin by running at just 30 percent of its capacity to maintain social distancing within the workplace. The government is expected to distribute millions of masks for free to the population, more than half of which is living beneath the poverty line.

Reuters pointed out that this decision has been taken earlier than elsewhere around the globe but that Georges Sassine, the head of Haiti’s Industrial Association, said for many Haitians it is a grim choice between dying of hunger or coronavirus.


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