Grenada on Tuesday announced new measures regarding the entry of children into the country as it moves to curb the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
“Effectively immediately, persons 13 years and under travelling with a fully vaccinated party will be treated as that party, fully vaccinated with respect to quarantine,” Health Minister Nickolas Steele told reporters at the weekly post-cabinet news conference.
“So, if you are travelling with children 13 and under and you and everyone else in that party is fully vaccinated then the entire party will only have to do 48 hours in quarantine. Individuals over the age of five are swab like all other adults at the airport,” Steele added.
The government recently announced that only fully vaccinated people would be allowed into the island and Steele told reporters “residents and citizens can return to Grenada whether vaccinated or unvaccinated”.
Steele said also that “outside of citizens and residents of Grenada”, no unvaccinated person would be allowed to enter Grenada. He also used the opportunity to extend an apology to persons who may be affected by the announcement in a negative way.
“We apologize for any inconvenience this may bring to persons, we have had consultation with the Grenada Hotel and Tourism Association and other stakeholders to give them as much warning as possible,” said the health minister.
Steele said that Grenada’s low rate of infection is linked directly to the island’s strict measures at ports of entry, even as he lamented the slow pace at which citizens are becoming inoculated.
“To date, we have been spared because of the restrictive measures that have come at a significant inconvenience to us all,” said Steele as he referred to neighboring countries that are currently experiencing community spread of outbreaks of the virus among citizens.
Grenada began its vaccination program in mid-February and to date less than 20 percent of the population, who are eligible to be vaccinated, are inoculated.
As of July 11, the authorities said the number of individuals receiving the vaccine is 35,331 with 14,910 being fully vaccinated with two doses.
CMC
