Grenada suspends all flights from the UK
21 December 2020
ST. GEORGE’S,Grenada, Dec. 21, CMC – The Government of Grenada has suspended all flights to the island from the United Kingdom in the wake of reports about the recent discovery of a new strain of COVID-19.
In a statement late Sunday, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said the decision was made to suspend all air traffic between Grenada and the UK effective December 20, until future notice.
The statement added that “anyone who has been in the United Kingdom in the previous 14 days, will not be permitted entry into Grenada.”
“This decision, taken in line with many other countries, is to prevent, as best as possible, the introduction into Grenada of the new strain of the Coronavirus recently discovered in parts of the United Kingdom.”
Scientists have advised that this new strain of COVID-19 poses a new health risk, as it appears to spread more easily, and may be up to seventy per cent more transmissible than the earlier strain.
“We extend apologies to all our stakeholders, including the airlines, and our nationals and friends in the United Kingdom who were scheduled to travel to Grenada in the coming days. As this is a developing situation, decisions have had to be made quickly, and in the best interest of Grenada.”
The administration of Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell, stated that the developments will be monitored closely and make further adjustments to Grenada’s entry protocols will be made accordingly.
Meanwhile in Saint Lucia, the Ministry of Health received confirmation of two new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday. This brings the total number of cases diagnosed in country to date to 282. One of the cases is a Saint Lucian national.
Case #281 is a 59 year old female from the Soufriere district. She was seen at a community respiratory clinic, where she was assessed and tested for COVID-19. While awaiting receipt of her test result, she was placed in quarantine by a health practitioner. An epidemiological link has not been established for this care. Investigations are on-going by the contact tracing team to determine the possible existence of a link for this case.
Arrangements have been made to place this individual into isolation, the Ministry of Health said.
The second case is a non-national. Case #282 is a 31 year old female . She was placed in quarantine while awaiting receipt of her test result. The individual has since been placed in isolation.
The Ministry of Health also reported two recoveries for Saturday. This brings the number of active cases in country to 22. At present, all of the active cases are stable and none is in critical care.