Barbados health officials today published new COVID-19 travel protocols requiring, effective October 1st, a mandatory second test for people arriving from medium risk countries.

Such individuals will also be monitored daily for the onset of symptoms for a period of 7 days and those who refuse the 2nd test will be placed in quarantine for a week.

The authorities have also introduced a very low-risk category for people who have not travelled to or transited through any country designated as High, Medium, or Low-Risk within 21 days prior to travel to Barbados.

These people will not be required to take a COVID-19 test prior to or on arrival and will be permitted to leave the airport after clearance by Immigration, Customs, and Port Health Officials.

Villas, where people are allowed to quarantined, are being mandated to have 24-hour manned security or security cameras monitored by a security firm in Barbados capable of ensuring that quarantine is not violated.

High-Risk countries now include: the Bahamas, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.

The UK is among the medium risk countries, while Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as China, are among those considered very low risk.

Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley says Barbados’ COVID-19 protocols are being changed every two weeks as she stresses Barbados has to learn to live with the pandemic that has devastated the tourism sector.

She was speaking on CNN International this morning as she continues to promote the Barbados Welcome Stamp initiative which encourages people who qualify to relocate to Barbados and work from here for up to a year.

She pointed out that despite the reopening of the airport to commercial traffic, air passenger loads are still only a small fraction of what they would normally be.

Ms. Mottley notes that 90 percent of Barbados’ COVID-19 cases are imported but believe that’s a risk that Barbados has to live with.