The minister revealed the information while addressing residents of Jost van Dyke at a community meeting held there on Thursday, October 22, 2020.

He said only after the spike of 53 COVID-19 cases in August of 2020, that the administration got a clear picture of the border situation in the territory.

“We found out that our south-west and our north-west borders were quite porous in terms of what we've done for years,” he said.

Health Minister Hon Carvin Malone (AL) addressing residents of Jost van Dyke at a community meeting held there on Thursday, October 22, 2020.

Minister for Health and Social Development, Hon Carvin Malone (AL) has revealed that it was COVID-19 pandemic that led authorities to discover how porous the Virgin Islands (VI) sea borders were.

Incoming boats were bypassing immigration – Hon Malone

Hon Malone continued, “boats would come over from St John and from St Thomas, some of them will check-in and some will not,” the Minister revealed.

The discovery of the breach resulted in the channelling of resources to beef up border security through the use of barges, also to contact trace smuggled individuals.

According to the Minister, the territory was able to contain the spread due to successful contact tracing, where those individuals were tracked and placed in quarantine.