Those travelling from China can still enter Barbados – at least for now.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Simone Rudder, said yesterday she was not aware of any decision to issue a travel ban on people arriving from China.
“That is a question [the minister] will have to advise on in consultation with our Immigration authority. I am not aware of what decision has been made or is being contemplated. When that decision is taken, a press release to that effect will be given,” said Rudder.
Her response came as four Caribbean countries announced they were instituting preventative measures, including in the case of Antigua and Barbuda and Trinidad and Tobago, an immediate ban on all travellers from the People’s Republic of China.
The Gaston Browne government’s decision was taken after the World Health Organisation deemed the disease a global health emergency on Thursday.
In the case of Trinidad and Tobago, Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh announced on Thursday during the post-Cabinet press conference, at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s, Port-of-Spain, that they had taken the move to declare the coronavirus an infectious disease and dangerous infectious disease.
“If you left China tomorrow on February 1 (today), you will not be allowed entry into Trinidad and Tobago until the 14th of February regardless of nationality. Why 14 days? The incubation period for the coronavirus is currently seven to 14 days. . . . That is how you interrupt transmission of the coronavirus,” he said.
(RA/TB)
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