TRAVEL BAN: Henfield says govt closely monitoring US, UK and other jurisdictions

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Minister of Foreign Affairs Darren Henfield said yesterday that the government will look to the advice of health authorities concerning any consideration to implement additional travel bans.

He said the government is closely monitoring the United Kingdom and various states in the United States as a new, more contagious strain of COVID-19 surges.

“What I am saying about that is we’re going to follow the advice of our technical experts, the healthcare professionals,” Henfield told Eyewitness News.

“We’re continuing to watch and monitor through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Ministry of Health.

“We work very closely together with these things.

“So, we’ll follow their advice.”

This week, Florida topped the US with the more contagious strain of COVID-19 — BII7, a variant of the virus that was first discovered in the United Kingdom.

In the last three weeks, confirmed cases of the B117 variant tripled, from 125 to nearly 380.

Over in the UK, ground zero for the new strain, cases have swept the country.

Professor Sharon Peacock, head of the UK’s genetic surveillance program, has predicted the new variant will “sweep the world, in all probability”.

The competent authority amended the emergency orders to prohibit all incoming travelers from Haiti for a period of 21 days, beginning Monday.

Government officials said the travel ban was prompted by Haiti’s carnival, a mass participation event that other jurisdictions, including The Bahamas, have canceled because of concerns of local transmission of COVID-19.

The Bahamas has direct flights to Haiti.

Attorney General Carl Bethel told Eyewitness News on Sunday the travel ban covers the carnival period and approximately two weeks after that — the inoculation period for the virus.

Outgoing travel to Haiti will continue uninhibited, however.

Yesterday, Henfield pointed out that Trinidad and Tobago canceled its carnival, and Junkanoo in The Bahamas was canceled “because we know these kinds of events can turn out to be superspreaders”.

The Bahamas currently does not have direct flights to Trinidad and Tobago.

Henfield said: “And so, we’re being super cautious here.”

Asked about direct flights resuming to the United Kingdom, the foreign affairs minister said: “I am not sure about that…but my answer would be the same: we take the advice from the technical experts.”