Trinidad and Tobago imposes travel restrictions on eight countries over new COVID-19 variant
The government of Trinidad and Tobago has imposed travel restrictions on travellers from eight countries over concerns about the new COVID-19 Omicron variant.
The countries include Botswana, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.
In a statement late Friday, the Ministry of Health announced that all persons who are not citizens or permanent residents of Trinidad and Tobago and have visited the countries listed above within 14 days of their arrival in the twin-island republic would not be allowed entry at this time.
However, it noted that while all Trinidad and Tobago citizens and permanent residents who have visited the countries listed above will be allowed entry within 14 days of their arrival in Trinidad and Tobago they will require a mandatory state-supervised quarantine of no less than 14 days.
The traveller, the Ministry added, will be required to bear all associated costs and therefore should make the necessary arrangements before travel.
It said this applies to both vaccinated and non-vaccinated nationals travelling from the countries listed previously.
Furthermore, the Health Ministry noted that all other existing entry requirements, as indicated in the travel Pass must be adhered to, inclusive of a negative nasopharyngeal (nasal swab) RT-PCR test result has taken no earlier than 72 hours before arrival in Trinidad and Tobago.
It also advised against all non-essential travel to the affected areas.
The Ministry said it will continue to assess the situation and advise the population of any adjustments to this Health Travel Advisory, as required.
On Friday, the World Health Organization(WHO) classified the new variant first identified in southern Africa as a “variant of concern.”
WHO said the variant has a large number of mutations, some of which are concerning.
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