Health consultant in the Office of the Prime Minister, Dr. Merceline Dahl-Regis admitted, today, that there is suspicion of persons presenting fraudulent COVID-19 test results to enter Grand Bahama, which has witnessed a dramatic spike in coronavirus cases over the last week.
Dr. Dahl-Regis said the matter has been reported to the Royal Bahamas Police Force for further investigation.
She also advised that since the matter has been reported, no update has been presented to the Ministry of Health by police.
This matter is of grave concern for The Bahamas. Just two weeks ago, the country opened its borders to international travelers. Most of these tourists have travelled here through Florida, the new Covid hotspot of the United States.
For weeks, Grand Bahama boasted of having no new coronavirus cases since May 4. However, that changed after borders reopened. New cases on the island have spiked with health officials reporting new cases almost daily.
The island now has 18 cases - 2 of them confirmed today and 10 of them reported over the last week.
The latest cases are a 52-year-old man with no history of travel. He is currently in hospital.
The other new GB case is a 39-year-old man with no travel history.
If persons are entering the country on fraudulent COVID tests, this places us at a much greater risk. What is even more concerning is that those persons would have been given permission to enter the country and arrived in The Bahamas but it was not until they presented the original test that suspicion arose.
Dr. Dahl-Regis admitted that The Bahamas is not currently conducting sufficient COVID-19 tests and there is a need to increase testing. In an effort to address this shortage, Dr. Dahl-Regis said that a number of private facilities have been cleared to conduct tests.
To date, there are 116 confirmed COVID cases in The Bahamas - 84 in New Providence, 18 in Grand Bahama, 13 in Bimini and 1 in Cat Cay.
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