UPDATES: COVID Management June 5, 2021.

Updates from Minister of Home Affairs, Information and Public Affairs, Wilfred Abrahams; Minister of Health and Wellness Jeffrey Bostic and Senator Lisa Cummins, Minister of Tourism and International Transport.

Minister of Home Affairs Wilfred Abrahams

• Current directive (No. 10) expires on June 7
• New directive (no. 11) runs until June 29
• Supermarkets, mini marts and village shops to reopen on Sundays
• Automarts to also resume full service on Sundays
• Spectatorless sports allowed to resume subject to protocols
• Competitive sports, including horse racing, can resume subject to receiving permission from Covid-19 Monitoring Unit
• Crop Over is some time away
• We have to look at the pros and cons
• I can’t say too much on Crop Over
• We are closely monitoring what is happening in the country
• A lot is riding on the vaccines
• A lot depends on when we reach that target for herd immunity.
• The horse racing fraternity came with protocols are were above what is required
• The requirements without spectators at the Garrison will allow for about 400 to 500 people present
• Provisions are in place for online betting
• If given permission, only people connected to the day’s events will be at the Garrison
• We are comfortable with the protocols from the horse racing fraternity

Minister of Health Jeffrey Bostic

• Positivity rate as high as 5 per cent at March 6
• Trending downwards since then.
• Positivity rate lowest 0.5 per cent during the last week of May.
• Cumulative incidents target 25 per 100 000
• Last two weeks of May 20 cases per 100 000
• May 22-June 4 15 per 100 000
• 557 tests
• 1 positive case, non-Barbadian in-transit
• Been doing well. Still some pockets of resistance, yielding a few cases in single digits
• These are the focus for Government.
• Our main concern today is another case in a secondary school.
• Developing family cluster of 3 at The Lester Vaughan School.
• Day 5 of the case. By tomorrow see where it is leading to.
• All children must be complimented.
• I want to make a special appeal to children and parents
• The challenge is post school interactions
• We are seeing groups of 30 to 40 people congregating at bus stops not wearing masks and not physical distancing
• I am appealing to you to do the right thing
• 81 000+ people received the first dose of the vaccine
• 61 000+ people received the second dose
• This is important. In some countries, many people have received the first dose and not the second
• Don’t hesitate, vaccinate
• We still have community spread
• There are one or two cases where we cannot find the link
• Community spread is not widespread
• We are not saying that competitive sports cannot take place
• Sports associations and organisations need to meet with us and tell us how they plan to proceed
• We are still awaiting vaccines from the COVAX facility, Africa and other sources
• The World Health Organisaton recently gave approval for two vaccines from China
• The Government of China has agreed to donate some vaccines to Barbados.
• We are trying to get vaccines from four different sources

Minister of Tourism and International Transport, Senator Lisa Cummins

• We are preparing to receive our first cruise ship
• Celebrity Millennium will arrive at the Bridgetown Port on Monday at 11 a.m.
• It is home porting in St Maarten
• All passengers are required to have a negative PCR test three days prior to arrival
• 100 per cent of the ship (passengers and crew) will be fully vaccinated.
• Cruise ships will only be allowed 50 per cent capacity
• For the summer months, there is not a lot of traffic out of the UK
• Canada will resume flights to some Caribbean islands later this month
• US demand is extremely strong
• Earlier this year, some flights came in from the US with six people
• Flights from the US are now full
• The US market is looking like the strongest for the summer