St. Vincent and the Grenadines sees two imported cases of COVID-19 on first flight from USA, several reportedly disobeyed quarantine order

Published by BBN Staff at July 15, 2020

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Posted: Wednesday, July 15, 2020. 1:51 pm CST.

By BBN Staff: For the first time since the country closed its borders to international travel, St. Vincent and the Grenadines reopened for international flights just to find two positive cases of COVID-19 on the flight. More distressing for the sister CARICOM nation is that several people on that flight reportedly violated quarantine orders once they were in the country.

The event unfolded on July 11, when two of a total of 154 passengers on an American Airlines flight tested positive for COVID-19. Up to that point, the country did not report any new cases since June 25.

Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said that the two people who tested positive have been compliant, but he received reports that others who were to adhere to a mandatory 24-hour quarantine pending their test results were seen at restaurants and some even attended church.

“You have to abide by the quarantine, please. If the police come for you this morning and take you up — a Sunday morning — to take you down to the barracks to hold you there until tomorrow to take you to the court, how would you feel?” Gonsalves said.

He pleaded with all travelers to abide by the regulations for their own safety and for the wider public of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Antigua and Barbuda recently had issues with quarantine adherence, shortly after the country reopened for international tourists, with some even threatening to take legal action against the country’s government for rights violations, after authorities tried to impose a quarantine on tourists who tested positive and then booked a flight to return to the US.

The situation in the Caribbean is noteworthy, since Belize is planning to reopen the Philip Goldson International Airport (PGIA) on August 15.

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