NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Passengers from The Bahamas traveling to the United Kingdom will still be required to quarantine for 14 days, due to concerns over the recent surge of COVID-19 cases.
The Bahamas, Andorra and Belgium were removed from the UK’s safe list on August 8.
Earlier this month, UK Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps foreshadowed the move, noting the data showed a need for the UK to remove the three countries from its travel corridor list — countries where passengers do not require mandatory quarantine upon arrival — in order to keep infection rates down.
According to the UK government’s website: “If you arrive in England from Andorra, The Bahamas or Belgium after 4am, August 8, you will need to self-isolate.”
Between July 1, when The Bahamas opened its borders to international commercial carriers, and August 25, there were 1,709 confirmed infections, compared to the 104 cases recorded between mid-March and the end of June.
As of Tuesday, there were 1,813 confirmed cases and 1,125 active cases.
Between August 18 and August 25, there were 389 confirmed infections.
In the week before, spanning August 11 to August 18, there were 435 confirmed cases.
However, cases appeared to have slowed in the last few days with 62 cases reported on Saturday, 69 on Sunday, 14 on Monday and 15 on Tuesday.
It remains unclear what COVID-19 case requirements The Bahamas would have to meet to be added back to the corridor list.
The Bahamas is among other Caribbean countries taken off the list this month.
Turks and Caicos Islands were removed from the list on August 15 in addition to Aruba, France, Malta, Monaco, and the Netherlands.
On Saturday, Trinidad and Tobago were removed from the travel corridor list along with Austria and Croatia.
Countries exempted from quarantine to the UK include countries with low infection rates, such as St Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Bermuda, British Virgin Island, Dominica, and a host of other European and Asian countries.
Amid the border closure in The Bahamas, Bahamian citizens and residents were stuck in the United Kingdom and Europe for months before eventually repatriating home in mid-June.
A reported 50 Bahamians were stuck in the UK and Europe.
At last report, the United Kingdom had 328,846 confirmed cases and
The country reported an additional 1,048 cases yesterday and 16 new deaths.
Last month, The Bahamas was left off a list of 15 countries whose residents could travel to the European Union when the bloc of countries opened its borders on July 1. The United States was also left off the list due to a continued surge of cases.
The EU shortened its list on July 30, removing Algeria of countries from which non-EU nationals can enter the bloc of countries for non-essential travel.
Under the revised list, only residents of Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay can travel without any restrictions to the EU.
China was approved, though travelers will only be allowed entry if Beijing grand reciprocal rights to EU citizens.
