Last Updated on May 25, 2020, 8:40 PM AST by Anthony Morris
The National Security Minister, Stuart Young has said that more than 300 Trinidadian nationals of Trinidad and Tobago stuck on a ship off Barbados would be allowed to come home if the cruise ship company would agree to quarantine them at sea off Trinidad and Tobago.
Young commented yesterday after the return of six Trinidadian nationals on Saturday night and the in the wake of the expected return of 53 other nationals today from the Disney Fantasy cruise ship.
The six nationals who have returned on Saturday were taken to the University of the West Indies’ Debe campus for their 14-day quarantine after they arrived in the country.
Young said that he has also been in talks with Royal Caribbean’s Vision of the Seas cruise ship, which is in Barbados waters presently with more than 300 Trinidadian nationals on board.
He added that he was hoping to negotiate for a different approach regarding the quarantine process for that vessel since the Government of the country could not facilitate such a huge number of returning nationals.
He said once there are no positive cases in the 14 days, the nationals on board would be allowed to go straight to their homes after leaving the ship.
“What I’m going to try to work out with the cruise ship company is come and anchor in our waters and let us do the quarantine of our cruise ship workers, those 300-plus on the ship, with our public health officials monitoring and doing the necessary medical assessments and examinations; hopefully, no positive cases present and you come, and you go home,” Young said.
He said he has also had discussions with the principals of the various University of the West Indies campuses to repatriate students there.
“What we have done is asked the principals of the three campuses, because there are various examinations dates and they are different in each campus, so I’ve asked them to work with us and work out the preferable dates for the students,” Young said.
He also assured that the Government would keep its promise to repatriate all T&T nationals desirous of returning home.
Young’s plan comes even as St Augustine MP Prakash Ramadhar has called for a committee to be set up to look into the repatriation of Trinidadians currently stuck abroad. Ramadhar said now that there were no cases of COVID-19 in the country, the almost 1,000-bed stock no longer in use at the various institutions used to treat previous patients could be used to house the returning nationals.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
