Cayman lifts COVID travel restrictions
Cayman lifts COVID travel restrictions: The Cayman Islands government has announced it is dropping all its remaining travel-related COVID restrictions, meaning travellers will no longer be required to obtain permission from Travel Cayman to enter the islands and unvaccinated tourists will be able to come here without having to quarantine.
In what Premier Wayne Panton today described as, “we hope and we pray … our last specific COVID-19 press briefing”, he announced that under changes to the Control of Covid-19 (Travel) Regulations – which will come into effect on Wednesday, 24 Aug. – incoming passengers will no longer be required to provide their vaccination status.
The changes do not impact the Immigration Transition Act, which requires new work-permit holders entering Cayman to be vaccinated, he said. He added that the provision would remain in place for overseas workers coming to live long-term in Cayman, and he does not see that changing “unless there is a significant change internationally on the prevalence of COVID”.
Amendments are also being made to the Control and Management of Covid-19 Regulations. These include the dropping of a requirement for exit PCR tests for COVID-positive individuals in isolation. Also, close contacts of people who have tested positive for COVID can continue to work and attend school if they complete a daily LFT test and have a negative result, the premier said.
All restrictions on the sizes of public gatherings, on land or sea, indoors or outdoors, are being dropped.
The mandatory wearing of masks in hospitals, residential homes, places of detention and prisons will continue, Health Minister Sabrina Turner said. Mask-wearing in churches, restaurants, bars and other places of business remains discretionary, she added.
Turner said COVID-19 is still classified by the World Health Organization as a pandemic and, therefore, is a notifiable disease and should be reported to Public Health. She appealed to anyone who has tested positive on an LFT to undergo a free confirmatory PCR test at Public Health’s drive-through testing centre at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex.
She also noted that, under the regulation amendments, the isolation period for COVID-positive individuals will be seven days, regardless of whether a person is vaccinated or unvaccinated.
Source: Cayman Compass
