by Linda Straker
- Caribbean Airlines repatriated over 25 Grenadians from Trinidad
- Departed with 75 Trinidadians from Grenada, including SGU students
- Maurice Bishop International Airport opened today for commercial passengers
More than 25 Grenadians who were stuck in Trinidad when the Maurice Bishop International Airport (MBIA) closed to commercial traffic in March as part of measures to contain the spread of Covid-19, have been repatriated.
Health Minister, Nickolas Steele, confirmed that all the persons including 8 Chinese on the flight which arrived shortly after midday on Wednesday, have been stuck in Trinidad since March. They were allowed to go to their places of residence because they came from a Covid-19 low-risk territory. “All of them were in Trinidad since March because of the lockdown,” he said.
Upon arrival at the airport, they underwent screening as mandated in the new health protocol. All persons tested negative in the rapid test. Trinidad and Tobago is classified as a low-risk or Green zone territory.
The Caribbean Airlines aircraft that repatriated the Grenadians, departed with 75 Trinidadians who were stuck in Grenada, 25 of whom were students pursuing further studies at St George’s University. The group will be quarantined on arrival.
Grenada officially opened Maurice Bishop International Airport today, 15 July for commercial passengers. However, because Covid-19 is affecting some areas worse than others, the Cabinet created 3 different categories for arriving passengers.
The Green zone or low-risk passengers are those coming from Caricom states with less than 20 Covid cases in the past 14 days; Yellow zone or medium are passengers from Canada, the European Union with the exception of Portugal. Red zone or High-Risk passengers are those who are from the USA, Russia, Portugal and Latin America.
Steele said on Tuesday that the health ministry will be continuously reviewing Covid-19 data from around the world and the countries will be placed in zones as reflected in World Health Organisation (WHO) data.
Better to be safe than sorry. When you think that things are bad they can get worse. Let’s try to do better next time. These decisions didn’t cause any deaths.
Whoa ignorance is bliss. Just imagine having a child in the red zone and he/she wants to reunite with you, would your comment be the same. Precautionary measures are key in this unusual time.
Allyuh have to be damn mad. In New York bodies were dropping like flies, not even the Canadian government were allowing any US citizen to come into their country. Why de hell Trinidad shld play DOTISH and allow you all in. I am sure if this Virus had started in Trinidad or any Caribbean country Trump wld have banned all flights into the US from the Caribbean and not a damn dog wld have barked. As Patrice Roberts sang You all can’t do him one damn thing”
That is not true. Canada is letting their citizens return to Canada.
Question: is there any restrictions for travel amongst the 50 states. I think not. Thus while infection rate may be low in some areas, there is no telling the risk as travel is open across borders. Governments are just doing there best to preserve health. I’m sure anybody will think twice letting a stranger into their home. You just don’t know.