NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The ban on travel to and from Haiti has been extended for another 30 days as of today, according to an amendment to the emergency orders.
The latest order, dated April 11, read: “Effective 12am on Monday the 12th day of April, 2021, the prohibition of travel to and from Haiti as specified in paragraph (3), shall be extended for a further period of 30 days.”
Prior to the ban, there were direct flights between Haiti and The Bahamas.
This is now the second time the ban has been extended since it was first implemented on February 15.
At that time, Attorney General Carl Bethel said the purpose of the ban was to mitigate risk of a surge of COVID-19 cases in The Bahamas as Haitians celebrated carnival, which is usually observed for a few weeks in February.
The order was extended for another month on March 13, which Minister of Tourism Dionisio D’Aguilar attributed to concerns among healthcare professionals about a number of cases of COVID-19 originating from that country.
The latest orders did not provide a reason for the extension of the ban.
However, The Bahamas has seen an increase in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations recently, with nearly 200 additional cases recorded in the last week.
Director of the National HIV/AIDS and Infectious Disease Programme Dr Nikkiah Forbes yesterday told Eyewitness News “it’s fair to say we are in the early stages of a third wave” of the virus.
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