National Security Minister, Stuart Young has announced that individuals entering Trinidad and Tobago would now have to be in possession of a negative PCR test done two days prior to arrival.
Speaking at Saturday’s media briefing at the Diplomatic Centre, Young also stated that those individuals would then be placed in state quarantine facilities, mainly hotels, for the next seven days, and released only after testing negative after the sixth day in quarantine.
Young said that as of last Friday, 13,042 nationals and residents applied to re-enter the island and that 7,204 exemptions had been granted.
But, he said there has been a trend, where many persons who had been allowed to leave the country, were now trying to re-enter as quickly as possible having completed the purpose of their visit overseas.
These people would now have to join the queue of individuals wishing to return home.
Young also revealed that: “We have agreed to introduce another facility as a state-supervised quarantine facility. We have already started the preparations…had a conversation with them yesterday and the Ministry of Health is on it today. This is the Kapok Hotel.”
The hotel will provide an additional 100 rooms, Young said.
Here is a rundown of the modifications made by Youth yesterday to the Exemption Policy:
1. Nationals of Trinidad Tobago are still required to apply for an exemption to enter or exit this country.
2. Non-nationals are still not permitted to enter Trinidad and Tobago, except in certain exceptional circumstances.
3. Government priority remains getting nationals of Trinidad and Tobago back home on a first come first serve basis, whilst applying the existing policies that have been previously stated.
As such, exemptions and the granting of approvals will depend on the number of persons in the queue and are based on the quarantine space available.
4. From Sunday November 15, 2020, nationals entering Trinidad and Tobago will be required to provide a negative Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test, which was taken within 72 hours before arrival into this country.
5. Upon arrival, nationals will be required to be placed in state quarantine or state supervised quarantine for seven (7) days. Persons will be tested on the sixth day of their quarantine and released once they test negative.
6. When applying for an exemption to return home, persons will be required to indicate whether they wish to pay and be placed in state supervised quarantine.
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