No Date For SKN To Join Travel Bubble

Basseterre, St. Kitts, September 13 , 2020 (ZIZ News): CARICOM Heads of Government took a significant step towards reviving the COVID-19 challenged travel and tourism sectors, with the agreement to institute a Travel Bubble among the CARICOM Member States and Associate Members from Friday 18 September.

However, as Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Hazel Laws has pointed out St. Kitts and Nevis has not yet agreed to an implementation date as its borders remain closed.

“The Heads of Government of CARICOM including our own prime minister would have agreed in principle to a regional travel bubble. However, we must note that the Federation’s borders remain closed and so the implementation date as announced does not apply to the Federation,”.

Dr. Laws shared some of the eligibility criteria for countries to participate.

“Only those territories where there are no reported COVID-19 cases or those territories with low risk – meaning those territories that meet these criteria whereby there is a COVID-19 case notification rate of less than 20 new cases per 1000 population within the last 14-day period – will be eligible to be a part of this CARICOM bubble,”

She said The territories must also have adequate quarantine and isolation sites for persons who are asymptomatic or mildly affected by COVID-19 which are separate from the facilities for visitors and tourists.

Travellers participating in the bubble are not required to take a pre-arrival Covid-19 test nor undergo a period of quarantine in order to travel to countries that are within the Bubble.

However, travellers will be subjected to screening on arrival.

Dr. Laws also noted that travellers should have been resident to a Bubble country or should not have travelled to a country outside of the Bubble for at least 14-21 days prior to the date of travel.

Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines initially agreed to the Bubble.

As of Tuesday, September 22, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, and Barbados have all put their arrangements in place and have commenced operating the Travel Bubble.

The other Member States and Associate Members will be allowed to participate when they meet the criteria.