Minister of Health, Sir Molwyn Joseph said more than 40,000 passengers arrived in Antigua and Barbuda since the country reopened its borders on June 1, 2020.
The country was forced to close its borders earlier in the year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
He said prior to the reopening, the Ministry of Tourism with the assistance of the Ministry of Health developed protocols.
“When you think of 40,000 and you have the odd case where they say, okay a visitor has breached the quarantine, let’s be realistic, you’re not going to get a perfect situation”, the Minister told state media.
“When these things happen, we take note of them and deal with them seriously and then we will say that we have to look and see how we can tweak the system to prevent those things from happening.”
“Every visitor must be told what the rules are and sometimes that is not done”, he admitted adding, “then the visitor will stray.”
The Minister said he thinks that “we can intensify that process. So, when you arrive at the airport and you’ve been through the first screening etched in your mind are the rules of the game and I think we can do a better job that way.”
“At the hotel itself, we now have to ensure that the receptionist, the bartenders, all the others who serve, are part of the process that remind the visitors of the rules”, he added.
One response to “More than 40,000 visitors since country reopened in June”
In Barbados, straying from the quarantine means six (6) months in prison. Why is it different here? Or, why is it different there? Is it the case that our law enforcement is not working hard enough, or a Magistrate over there is mad?