14- day lockdown for Cat Island and North and Central Andros

Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis on Sunday announced a 14-day lockdown for Cat Island and North and Central Andros, starting Monday at 8 p.m.

Both islands have seen a surge in COVID-19 cases in recent days.

“Travel to and from Cat Island, and North and Central Andros is prohibited during the lockdown, except for essential workers,” Minnis said during a national address.

“There will be no in-person activities permitted. Most regrettably, this also means there will be no burials held during this period.

Every agency, business or establishment, shall remain closed, except for the Royal Bahamas Police Force, the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, government community clinics, and COVID-19 vaccination sites.”

Minnis said food stores are allowed to open for two days, between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., after the mail boat has arrived.

“No individual, other than an essential worker, shall leave his or her place of residence for any purpose other than for the purpose of seeking urgent medical attention, to go to a vaccination site, or on prescribed days to purchase food, water and other essential items.”

Minnis said residents will be allowed to leave their homes to go to the food store during the two days immediately following the arrival of the mail boat only.

Additionally, Minnis said food store owners will be permitted to restock their stores after the arrival of the respective mail boat and the Seacorp.

Farmers will be allowed to water their crops between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m.

Subsistence fishing will be permitted. 

Commercial banks are allowed to reload their automated banking machines.

Gas stations are allowed to open on Fridays from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. for government agencies only. Customs and Immigration will be able to fulfil their duties as needed. Additionally, security guard services will be permitted.

On North and Central Andros, harvesting of crabs during the lockdown period is permitted from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m.

National Vaccination Committee Chair Dr. Merceline Dahl-Regis said nine new cases of COVID-19 were reported on Andros in a single day.

“This is significant,” she said.

Dahl-Regis said a health team is conducting contact tracing and vaccinations on the island.

On Cat Island, there are 33 active cases of COVID-19 and 109 people are in quarantine.

Dahl-Regis said the island has a positivity rate of 58 percent.

“Seven people were airlifted to New Providence for urgent medical care and six remain hospitalized,” Dahl-Regis added.

Minnis said given the statistics, the government was advised to impose the lockdown.

“We cannot allow Family Island outbreaks of the pandemic to get out of control,” he said.

“In these communities, there are no big hospitals or intensive care units. There are limited numbers of healthcare professions due to the small sizes of the populations. Excessive spread of the virus would be catastrophic.”

Minnis said the National Food Distribution Task Force provided food shipments to both Andros and Cat Island late last week.

Additionally, he said the task force is preparing additional food parcels to be shipped to both Andros and Cat Island early this week.

The prime minister again encouraged Bahamians and residents to get vaccinated.

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