'); } else { $(".fotorama-caption").addClass("remove_caption"); } }) .fotorama();

NASSAU, Bahamas (CMC) The Bahamas government says it will launch an investigation into the circumstances that led to a passenger, who tested positive for the coronavirus (COVID-19), boarding a flight from Fort Lauderdale to Freeport in Grand Bahamas last weekend.

In a brief statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it had been directed by Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis to conduct the investigation into all the circumstances relating to the incident that involved a COVID19 positive passenger being allowed to board the repatriation flight from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Freeport, Grand Bahama on Friday May 8 2020, in contravention of established protocols.

The ministry said that Minnis has asked that this matter be treated with priority.

Accordingly, the ministry is presently conducting enquiries into all matters surrounding the incident and will report its findings to the prime minister on completion, the statement said.

Bahamas Consul General in Miami, Linda Treco-Mackey, is quoted in the Nassau Guardian newspaper on Tuesday as saying that a man who travelled from Fort Lauderdale to Grand Bahama on the state-owned Bahamasair last Friday after knowingly contracting COVID-19 was irresponsible and not considerate of his own fellow Bahamians.

I have to take responsibility for the Consulate because they (Bahamasair) [sought] approval from someone at the Consulate and the person at the Consulate was not at the level to give that approval, but they did, said Treco-Mackey.

The Consulate had organised the return of 183 Bahamians after the government agreed to re-open the airport which had been closed as part of the efforts to curb the spread of the virus that was first detected in China last December and blamed for more than300,000 deaths globally.

The Counsel General said that she presumed that Bahamasair assumed that it was okay for the affected person to have boarded the flight.

They weren't on the list to travel but somebody made a decision, which was out of their framework to do, she told the newspaper, adding because they knew that they were tested, they assumed that they were okay to travel and went over the manifest and approved them to travel. It was an unintentional mistake that has cost us. So, all our work, we feel like it was in vain.

I know that Bahamasair printed the boarding tickets but they did not allow travel until someone from the Consulate, not the proper person, but someone from the Consulate told them, 'It was okay. They were tested.

They would not have known that they [had] tested positive. They went outside the manifest sheet and decided to look into the list of persons who were tested which was not something they were approved to do. But, things happened.

The COVID-positive passenger was among 51 people who disembarked on Grand Bahama and Prime Minister Minnis said that the person had travelled with three others.

The Bahamas has 93 cases of COVID-19 and has recorded 11 deaths so far.

Now you can read the Jamaica Observer ePaper anytime, anywhere. The Jamaica Observer ePaper is available to you at home or at work, and is the same edition as the printed copy available at http://bit.ly/epaperlive

See the article here:

Bahamas investigates how person with COVID-19 allowed to board flight from US - Jamaica Observer