Premier Alden McLaughlin said the issue of extending the closure of the islands’ air and sea borders beyond the end of this month, when the current order expires, would be considered this week.

“The government is certainly not reopening the borders anytime soon,” he said at the daily COVID-19 briefing on Monday.

“Indeed, there will be a Cabinet paper this week which will ask Cabinet to agree that all ports remain closed until 1 September,” McLaughlin said.

The islands’ ports of entry were first closed in late March on the heels of Cayman’s first COVID-19 case. The ban applies to international flights, as well as to cruise ships and pleasure craft.

Over the weekend, reports started circulating that Carnival Cruise Lines has been selling tickets for August trips to Grand Cayman.

McLaughlin has insisted that Cayman will not reopen its borders to tourists prematurely. He said it could be six months or longer before visitors could return here.

Governor Martyn Roper also weighed in on the issue of border closures, stressing the importance of maintaining the British Airways air-bridge with the United Kingdom.

He said Cayman had already arranged two British Airways flights, and government is “very open” to arranging more.

“We have no prospect of our borders being opened anytime soon, so that air-bridge is a really important link with the outside world, and I have been contacted [Monday] by many people who have children at boarding school in the UK, so we need to take all these issues into account,” Roper said.

He urged those seeking flights to continue to write to the travel help-line on emergencytravel@gov.ky if they need to leave the Cayman Islands.

“It’s really depends on demand, because if the demand is there, we will organise an air-bridge,” he said.

On Monday, India announced that it will begin a phased reopening of its airports to allow for repatriation of its nationals.

More than 300 Indian nationals in the Cayman Islands have already indicated their intention to return home.

Roper said he was “very aware of that news, which is clearly welcomed”.

He said Cayman is in contact with the British High Commission in New Delhi to work on the next steps on getting flights arranged.

He also indicated that talks with the Jamaican government continue regarding repatriation flights for nationals residing in the Cayman Islands to be allowed to return home.

He acknowledged concerns around the closure of airports in the Philippines, but said he believed this was a temporary measure.