This was revealed by Health Minister Hon. Carvin Malone during a televised broadcast yesterday. He explained that the decision was made during a May 5th meeting.

“Cabinet further decided that: a person seeking to be certified as a ‘day tripper’ should apply for re-entry through the Gateway prior to departure from the Virgin Islands; the Gateway fee would be reduced to $70.00.”

He added, “Day trippers would be allowed to travel with children who are under five years old; refusal by a returning ‘day tripper’ to undergo Day 7 testing would attract a fixed penalty of five thousand dollars ($5,000) or a court penalty of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) on summary conviction.”

Quarantine For Unvaccinated Persons Extended

Furthermore, Minister Malone said, following careful consideration regarding the reopening of the Territory to tourism and the need to mitigate the risks arising from increased travel, particularly arising from new COVID-19 variants, “Cabinet decided that the quarantine period for unvaccinated travellers will be extended from four days to seven days.”

He informed that where persons are traveling in mixed groups with some individuals unvaccinated, the entire party will be treated as unvaccinated and will also be required to quarantine for seven days upon arrival.

He added: “In the case of persons who are only partially vaccinated, meaning that they have received one dose of a two-dose vaccine, or whose final vaccine dose was administered less than two weeks before arriving in the Territory, a 4-day quarantine period would be required, with PCR testing administered on arrival and on day 4.”

Another cabinet decision was a request to the Health Emergency Operations Centre to present recommendations for rapid or PCR testing for frontline workers and Public Officers.

“We will continue to sound the alarm that vaccination is our best defence against the relentless COVID-19 pandemic. New, more aggressive strains continue to emerge, as the virus mutates and spreads rapidly from one region of the world to another, increasing the risk of severe sickness and death,” he remarked.