Regional leaders to discuss COVID travel bubble

ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders are due to meet on Monday to discuss arrangements surrounding the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

In recent times, the regional countries which have reopened their borders have created so-called ‘travel bubbles’ allowing for nationals from several countries to freely move in without having to undergo many of the tests required for entry into the islands as a result of COVID-19.

However, some countries have removed others and a senior government official, speaking on a radio programme, said that Barbados, for example, had created a bubble indicating that if you are coming from a number of islands, those individuals don’t need a COVID-19 test.

“Antigua and Barbuda has opted for the fact that we are saying no. According to the dictates of the Ministry of Health in Antigua and Barbuda, once you are coming into Antigua and Barbuda, irrespective of where you are coming from, you must have a COVID-19 negative PCR test.

“So even if we were allowed into that bubble, we would have been outstanding in that we would not have allowed their people in without the test. There is a meeting of the heads this afternoon at 3:30 pm where they are looking to see if they could find a way to harmonise the whole aspect of entry and exit among the CARICOM islands,” the official said.

The bubble usually includes countries that have demonstrated considerable success in containing and combating COVID-19.

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