ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – Prime Minister Gaston Browne has reiterated that health protocols have been put in place to accommodate travellers from Africa as the island welcomed the inaugural Air Peace flight on Sunday connecting Barbados and Antigua and Barbuda.
Browne, speaking on his weekly radio programme, said his administration’s cautious approach had also been influenced both by the current Ebola out break in Africa and by the country’s previous experience with Antigua Airways flights involving migrants traveling from Cameroon through Nigeria in 2022 and 2023.
“We got burnt there, so we’ve been a little cautious,” Browne said.
He told radio listeners that approximately 25 passengers arriving on the new Air Peace service from Nigeria will travel to Antigua and Barbuda on LIAT (2020) Ltd, whose main shareholders are the Antigua and Barbuda and Air Peace Caribbean Limited, a joint venture entity incorporated here and is separate from the Nigerian-based Air Peace airline.
Browne had said that the Air Peace flight from Lagos would bypass Antigua and land directly in Barbados “and then the individuals who are scheduled to stay in Antigua will probably get LIAT to bring them from Barbados to Antigua”.
Browne said health authorities will closely monitor the travelers and ensure they are screened upon arrival.
“What we will do, though, is to make sure that they’re properly screened as best we can,” he said, explaining that Antigua and Barbuda is reinstating enhanced public health measures, including infrared thermal scanners and other protocols previously used during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re putting new health protocols in place, going back to the COVID framework,” Browne said.
Last week, the government announced new measures aimed at enhancing public health safety amid concerns regarding the deadly outbreaks of Hantavirus, Ebola and Malaria in several parts of the world.
The Trinidad-based Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) Thursday said that following the declaration by the World Health Organization’s (WHO) that the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) has now become a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), it assesses that the current risk to the Caribbean region is low.
“Despite the low risk, CARPHA is urging its member states to maintain a high state of readiness. Because the Caribbean is a major global travel hub, the primary way the virus could arrive is through an infected traveler,” said Dr. Lisa Indar, CARPHA’s executive director.
Barbados’ High Commissioner to West Africa, Juliette Bynoe-Sutherland, described the inaugural flight as an historic milestone in air travel.
“We are now going to be positioned most seamlessly from West Africa into Barbados and the wider Caribbean,” she said, noting that passengers were making onward travel plans to Guyana, Dominica, St. Lucia as well as Antiggua and Barbuda,” she said.
“It is one thing in the diplomatic sphere to be talking about bridging the gap between Africa and the Caribbean, it is another thing to have the ability to do so and that has eluded us until Air Peace started this initiative.
IT is now monthly, but based on demand, we expect it will increase,” she added.
The inaugural flight was also met by officials from the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc., the Ministry of Health and Wellness, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)and other stakeholders.
