REVISED: Travel Advisory for Antigua & Barbuda

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ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA TRAVEL ADVISORY (REVISED) – December 8, 2020

 

The Government of Antigua and Barbuda has updated its travel advisory effective immediately to ensure the continued safety of travelers and residents. The V.C. Bird International Airport is open for international and regional air traffic. The Antigua Port Authority is open to Cargo Vessels, Pleasure Craft and Ferry Services which are required to follow all protocols issued by Port Health.

 

The State continues to carry out a combination of screening, testing, monitoring and other measures to mitigate the risk of importing any new cases of COVID-19 into the country. Additionally, measures have been implemented for the quick detection of any imported cases. This strategy is intended to protect and safeguard the health of both residents and visitors to Antigua and Barbuda.

 

Nationals and residents of Antigua and Barbuda are strongly advised to restrict their travel to countries with significant escalations in the number of persons recently testing positive for COVID-19 to that for essential purposes only.

 

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has provided parameters for the establishment of a regional Travel Bubble among the OECS countries of Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Montserrat, Anguilla and British Virgin Islands, together with Barbados. This is designed to facilitate intra-regional travel of nationals, movement of essential workers, and inter-regional travel of visitors to the region while ensuring that the necessary health protocols are

followed.

 

The protocols implemented are as follows:

 

  1. All arriving passengers by air must have a negative COVID-19 RT-PCR (real time

polymerase chain reaction) test for SARS-CoV-2 using a nasopharyngeal or

oropharyngeal swab taken within seven (7) days of their flight. (This includes

transiting passengers).

 

  1. Children below the age of 12 years, entering Antigua, DO NOT REQUIRE a

COVID -19 RT-PCR test.

 

  1. Persons traveling to Antigua and Barbuda from countries within the established

Travel Bubble must have resided there for no less than fourteen (14) consecutive

days prior to travel. They are required to have a negative COVID 19 RT-PCR test

result taken within seven (7) days of their flight. They will undergo mandatory

health screening upon arrival but will not be subject to quarantine. All other

arriving passengers are subject to quarantine as determined by the Quarantine

Authority.

 

  1. Passengers arriving for medical treatment/procedures must have a negative COVID-19

RT-PCR taken within seven (7) days of their flight. They also must comply with Ministry

of Health Guidelines for the Transfer of Patients into Antigua and Barbuda, to include:

  1. a) A letter of Request for Medical Transfer from the Chief Medical Officer

(CMO) of the originating country to the CMO of Antigua and Barbuda who

is also the Quarantine Authority.

  1. b) A medical report detailing patient’s condition, treatment required and the

urgency of the situation.

  1. c) A Letter of Acceptance from the receiving institution stating that the patient

has been accepted for care, together with the name of the physician who

will be managing the patient.

  1. d) The intended address in Antigua and Barbuda, together with the name and

telephone number of a contact person if available.

 

  1. Passengers arriving by sea (private yachts/Ferry Services) are subject to quarantine

according to guidelines issued by Port Health except those arriving from countries within

the bubble.

 

  1. All arriving passengers must wear a face mask on disembarkation and in all public areas.

Additionally, the wearing of face mask in public spaces is mandatory throughout

Antigua and Barbuda and social/physical distancing protocols must be adhered to.

  1. All arriving passengers must complete a Health Declaration Form and will be subjected

to screening and temperature checks by Port Health Authorities upon arrival in Antigua

and Barbuda.

 

  1. Persons travelling from countries within the travel bubble will be exempted from

quarantine, however, all other arriving passengers will be monitored for periods of up to

14 days in accordance with the directions of the Quarantine Authority and the

Quarantine (COVID-19) Guidelines. Visitors may be required to undergo testing for

COVID-19 on arrival or at the hotel or place of lodging as determined by the Health

Authorities.

 

  1. Arriving passengers with symptoms of COVID 19 may be isolated as determined by

the Health Authorities.

 

  1. Transiting passengers/Crew members who require an overnight stay will be required to

proceed to a hotel or government designated facility to await departure.

 

  1. All Marine Pleasure Craft and Ferry Services entering the waters of Antigua and

Barbuda should contact the Antigua Port Authority, using VHF Channel 16,

at least six (6) hours prior to arrival. Instructions will be given to guide the

crafts to either the Nevis Street Pier or English Harbour Ports or to a holding

area.

Military Vessels/Aircraft and other Watercraft transporting food, medical supplies, humanitarian and emergency supplies will be required to follow the Quarantine Guidelines established by the Quarantine Authority as well as issued by Port Health and must give prior notification before arrival.

 

These restrictions for maritime traffic, and the consequential Antigua Port Authority guidelines, issued during the State of Emergency, shall not restrict vessels engaged in innocent passage and/or transit passage, within the territorial seas and/or archipelagic waters of Antigua and Barbuda, under the 1982

United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

 

This Travel Advisory replaces ALL previous Travel Advisories issued by the Government of Antigua

and Barbuda.

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13 COMMENTS

  1. They weren’t really going to quarantine everyone who enters for 14 days

    Because that would actually be smart and actually protect the country.

    Instead more BS, meaningless protocols.

  2. Meaningless, weak protocols.

    Begging for diseased people to come when everywhere else wants to keep the disease out.

    • In the British Virgin islands everyone that steps off the plane gets quarantine and tested multiple times . YES NO EXCEPTIONS INCLUDING ALL TOURIST .

      • People here can’t see passed their political affiliation.

        And you’re correct quarantining everyone and testing on arrival makes sense.

        These weird non protocols in Antigua will not protect anyone.

  3. Everyone who are calling for quarantines must be employed in a cushy government job or are independently rich. Have you no empathy for your fellow citizens who have to actually work for a living?

    You people sound awfully cavalier about making your opinions known as to what is good for the country considering that the financially secure people represent only a small minority of our country.

    If YOU are so afraid, then YOU stay at home and protect yourselves from a virus that has NEVER be scientifically isolated or even proved to exist. The only evidence you have that it is real is the ‘say so’ of some unqualified newscaster or government official.

    The virus is a sham. The masks are a sham and so are the social distancing protocols. They invented the covid myth so they could institute the travel restrictions and quarantines and eventually the vaccines that are all part of a conspiracy to frighten people into OBEYING their tyrannical dictates and begin the GREAT RESET (an economic reset of the global economies into digital currencies. The elites want to regain control after the looming economic collapse happens, which will begin soon).

    • You’re brain has been warped by wild conspiracy stories.

      I’ve has relatives in the States die of this nonexistent disease.

      I’ve had some recover. All having symptoms peculiar to this disease like loss of smell, thickened blood.

      I follow virologists, ICU and ER doctors but I guess you know better.

      As for people’s jobs, there should be a law in place that no one can be fired for quarantining.

  4. ” HEH ITS ALL A SHAM ”
    (1)MY WIFE AND ME ( 2) ALL 4 GROWN KIDS (3) MY 5 YEAR OLD GRANDSON (4) MY NEPHEW HIS WIFE AND 6 YEAR OLD SON. (5) NEPHEW’S WIFE MOTHER AND UNCLE WHO WAS ON A VENTILATOR (6) MY DAUGHTER’S FIANCE AND HIS SISTER AND MOTHER . AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST (7) MY MOTHER THE MATRIARCH OF FAMILY DIED ALONE IN A HOSPITAL.

    • This virus is very real. And everyone should be frightened. Just think about how easily it spreads between people and apparently to other animals and back to people (minks).

      This virus is unique and new and should be taken seriously.

      I’m astounded by how badly some people and governments have reacted. Refuse to take real action. Refuse to protect human lives.

      This government quite quickly decided that making money for Sandals and the big resort owners was more important than keeping the virus out.

      Other countries have taken what might seem as excessive precautions to keep the virus out because they know how dangerous it really is.

  5. Condolences for your loss and the suffering your family have been through.
    Indeed Covid-19 is real. It affects people in a myriad of ways.

    Unfortunately the ‘advisory update’ continues to be confusing for the traveler & implementation is arbitrary.
    Becoming a joke.

    Pleased bracelet & fining people appears to have been removed in this ‘update’ as likely breach international law.

    Why are we not following many other islands :
    Test on arrival
    If negative, 3nights in covid secure hotel room – fourth day morning, another test
    If negative, released to your home, villa, hotel
    If negative, taken to govt quarantine facility at old air base & monitored for 10-days, with possible test on day 7/8

    • The protocols are confusing and arbitrarily applied.

      Your rules make much more sense.

      I have to question the intelligence and integrity of the people making these decisions.

  7. the system works. country been open since june with tons of visitors and there is no community spread or outbreaks. so get over it. do your part to keep antigua open and safe.

Comments are closed.