US travelers will be banned from the Bahamas

In an effort to control the spread of COVID-19, The Bahamas has announced that international commercial flights and commercial vessels carrying passengers will not be permitted to enter its borders, except for flights from Canada, the UK and the European Union. Travelers from the US will not be permitted. 

Commercial cruise vessels are not permitted to land in The Bahamas from the US © Caribbean/Alamy Stock Photo

Although it is located between the depths of the North Atlantic and Florida's eastern coast, the island nation is not welcoming international commercial flights and vessels carrying passengers from the US from 22 July at midnight. This is due to the continued increase in COVID-19 cases in the US, and also because the number of cases of the virus has almost tripled in the Bahamas since it began reopening its borders on 1 July. In addition, the carrier Bahamasair has ceased outgoing flights to the US.

The Bahamas has placed restrictions on the admission of international visitors © Michael Wigle/500px

However, private flights and charters from the US as well as pleasure craft and yachts are permitted to enter, and outgoing flights will be permitted to accommodate any current visitors scheduled to return to the US after the 22nd. Visitors are required to present a negative COVID-19 RT-PCR test from a referenced lab, taken no more than 10 days prior to the date of travel. Returning residents who can't present negative test results to immigration officials will have to undergo mandatory two-week quarantines.

A further measure is that an order has been made to close beaches and parks and a nightly curfew has been implemented on Grand Bahama. "Our current situation demands decisive action if we are to avoid being overrun and defeated by this virus," said the islands' prime minister, Hubert Minnis. "We cannot allow our hospitals to be overrun."