Health Minister Carvin Malone said in a statement on Friday that Cabinet decided to implement the ban due to the alarming COVID-19 statistics coming out of the Spanish-speaking country.

The Dominican Republic has more than 40,000 cases and reports of new cases are continuously increasing.

Malone stated: “Cabinet has also decided that in light of concerning information and of the prevalence of increasing cases of COVID-19 in the Dominican Republic — to implement a travel ban effective Monday, 11th January, 2021 of persons travelling from the Dominican Republic to the British Virgin Islands, except for Nationals, Belongers, Residents, work permit holders, persons permitted to reside in the territory, diplomats and persons employed by government and statutory agencies.

New COVID-19 measures effective immediately for DR and UK

Minister Malone also announced new COVID-19 measures that must be adhered from all persons travelling into the territory from the Dominican Republic and the United Kingdom, which is in effect from today January 8.

“I wish to say here as well that Cabinet met and it was decided that effective immediately, all persons approved to travel to the BVI originating or transiting through the Dominican Republic or the United Kingdom are required to provide a five-day rt-PCR negative test prior to entry and must undergo a mandatory 14-days quarantine and a testing regimen on the day of entry; on day 7 and finally on day 14 when in the territory,” Malone explained.

UK Banned due to new COVID-19 strain

Just last week, the BVI government announced a travel ban on persons travelling from the United Kingdom into the territory, after reports of a new COVID strain within that country.

Since then, the new strain of the virus has been reported in the Caribbean region, affecting Jamaica with four registered cases of the virus announced on Sunday, January 3.

In the meantime, countries such as Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados and the BVI are awaiting COVID results from the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) to determine if any of the most recent cases are the new strain of the virus.

This new strain is said to be more contagious.