On Friday, September 3, 2021, during a press conference, Premier and Minister of Finance Honourable Andrew A. Fahie (R1) addressed the issue of persons being caught submitting false documents to the BVI Gateway portal, including fake vaccination cards.

Premier Fahie said, “We will be looking to see how to raise that $10,000 up, I can tell persons that from now, because for anybody to get involved in that behaviour knowingly, intentionally doing it, can cost us our economy, so we will be reviewing that and some other measures very soon, because that [fines] may have to increase.”

The Government of the Virgin Islands is looking at further increasing fines for COVID crimes, Premier Andrew A. Fahie (R1) has said.

'Persons trying to beat the system'

Hon Fahie told reporters the territory has experienced a number of cases where persons have tried to submit fake documents to the travel portal.

“You would like to say you hope those things don’t happen but, like anything in life, you would have those persons trying to beat the system. The only problem with this is when you try to beat the system, you destroy the system and everyone in it, in and around it because this is COVID-19. If you lie about being negative and you are not, you lie about being vaccinated and you are not, you put a lot of persons' lives in danger.”

Premier Fahie also complimented the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force (RVIPF) for imposing the $10,000 maximum fine recently on one person who was found breaking mandatory quarantine order on Tortola.