Dr. George Charite and Dr. Marc Binard, of Integrated Medical Centre in Marsh Harbour, Bahamas, detail what Bahamians are going through following Hurricane Dorian. Treasure Coast Newspapers

UPDATE, JULY 24, 2020: The Office of the Prime Minister of the Bahamas announced on its Facebook page Friday afternoon there will be a weekend-long lockdown of all islands in the Bahamas. This is in addition to the two-week lockdown ordered for Grand Bahama which took effect Thursday.

Prime Minister Hubert Minnis will address the nation at 6 p.m. Friday.

Earlier story:The island nation of the Bahamas, almost entirely dependent economically on tourism dollars, announced a partial closure of its borders to incoming tourists.

The reason? Rising cases of COVID-19.

The announcement was made July 19 by Bahamian Prime Minister Hubert Minnis. The statement announced:

The following travel restrictions were announced:

This travel is still permitted, as long as travelers provide a negative COVID-19 test taken within 10 days of arrival:

The Duchess, owned by Capt. Billy Black of Stuart, heads into Walker's Cay July 9, 2020 to clear Bahamian customs. The Bahamas has announced changes to its policy for visitors planning to travel there.(Photo: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO BY JAMES HARMS)

One of the hardest hit spots is Grand Bahama Island, with 31 new cases in the past two weeks. Grand Bahama is a destination frequently visited by Floridians traveling into the country on personal boats. It was COVID-19 free for a little more than two months.

More: Tourists can travel to the Bahamas by air and sea, if proven to be COVID-19 negative

The increase in cases coincided with the re-institution of international flights and passenger sea transport, Minnis said. Many of the cases, he said, were traceable to Bahamian residents returning to the Bahamas.

Tuesday, Minnis announced the island of Grand Bahama will now be on total lockdown beginning Thursday. That presents a problem for Floridian boaters coming to the Bahamas because West End, on Grand Bahama, is a place where many boaters clear customs. The lockdown will last for two weeks. No travel into or off of the island, even between other islands, will not be allowe

Since Grand Bahama has been identified as a hot spot, Minnis announced these measures effective for the island:

Some Floridians have been fishing and boating in the Bahamas since it re-opened. Capt. Billy Black of Stuart, skipper of the Duchess, has been in Grand Cay and Walker's Cay in the Abacos taking charters fishing.

Joe Edge, of Port St. Lucie, took his boat to Guana Cay and is able to fly back on private charter.

Edge said in the Abacos, there have been no positive COVID test results. He believes it is becausefor the most part, people are wearing masks when theyre supposed to.

"Inside buildings when they cant social distance, everyone wears masks," Edge said, who emailed from Guana Cay Tuesday. "Compliance is the word of the day in Abaco and I think that says a lot when it comes to no infections and no positive tests here."

Guana Cay was one of the islands hit hardest by Hurricane Dorian last year. Edge said the island is doing well in its rebuilding and recovery except it still does not have power.

"Orchid Bay Marina just finished itsfirst dock and is waiting to install power and water, other than that things are going well," he wrote. "They just need a constant reliable power source."

As for the fishing, Edge said there has been much more wind than usual for this time of year. Despite that, the fishing for blackfin tuna has been goo

Minnis said Bahamian health officials are monitoring this situation closely.If efforts to decrease the number of cases are unsuccessful, other restrictive measures may be recommended, including a lockdown beginning July 24, he said.

A seven-member team from the Ministry of Health consisting of three physicians, one microbiologist and three nurses arrived on Grand Bahama Sunday to help provide clinical health support.

To stay up to date on Bahamian travel restrictions and changes, go to the Office of the Prime Minister's web page atOPM.gov.bs.

Ed Killer is TCPalm's outdoors writer. Become a valued customer by subscribing to TCPalm. To interact withEd, friend him on Facebook at Ed Killer, follow him onTwitter @tcpalmekiller or email him at ed.killer@tcpalm.com.

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Lockdown: All Bahamian islands now locked down for weekend - TCPalm