(CMR) After reports surfaced that several American tourists arrived in the Bahamas presenting forged COVID-19 tests results, the country on Monday announced a ban on nationals from the US.
On July 1, the Bahamas lifted a travel restriction implemented in March, officially reopening its borders to tourists including Americans.
However, shortly afterwards, reports began to surface that tourists who are required to show a negative coronavirus test on arrival had started to cheat the system.
According to a health consultant in the Office of the Prime Minister, there had been some instances in which tourist had turned up with fake documents, though the consultant declined to share specifics on the matter.
“Government officials are on high alert for cases of suspected forgery, tampering or altering of required documents, and are prepared to take action if necessary,” said consultant, Dr Merceline Dahl-Regis.
A similar sentiment was shared by the head of the countries COVID-19 task force, Frank Bartlett, who expressed similar concerns about the health visa system noting that improvements were coming.
“It is not only a question of an issue with the lab, but then you want to be looking at and take measures to prevent from you having fraudulent cases, so it just goes beyond the lab testing. So, as far as saying is there a concern; the answer is there is a concern. Is it being addressed? We are looking at mechanisms to prevent that or minimize that from occurring. The answer is yes on that, ” said Bartlett to local media.
Since reopening to tourist the country has seen an uptick in COVID-19 cases, to date the country has 153 confirmed coronavirus cases
Earlier in May 2020, Prime Minister Hubert Minnis accepted the resignation of the health minister Duanne Sands who caught in a COVID related scandal.
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