US travelers banned from Bahamas

Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said that it will no longer accept American tourists due to the upward trend of new cases in the U.S.

Most of the islands’ visitors come from the United States, many from Florida, which has high and climbing rates of infection from the novel coronavirus.

In a national address on Sunday, Minnis said that beginning Wednesday, any passengers on commercial flights and sea-going vessels will not be permitted to enter the country. Commercial flights from Canada, the United Kingdom and the European Union will be permitted to land but all passengers must provide a negative test for coronavirus in the past 10 days, according to The Washington Post.

Nassau based Bahamasair has already ended outgoing flights to the U.S., as ordered by Minnis.

“Regrettably, the situation here at home has already deteriorated since we began the reopening of our domestic economy. It has deteriorated at an exponential rate since we reopened our international borders,” Minnis said in his Sunday address to the nation.

There are 153 cases in the country. Of that total, 49 are new cases since The Bahamas borders were fully opened on July 1. Thirty-one of the new cases were recorded on the island of Grand Bahama.

Coronavirus infections in the United States continue to trend upward, with more than 3.7 million cases and nearly 140,000 deaths according to the CDC. According to The Washington Post, the seven-day average for new daily coronavirus infections in the U.S. has trended upward for 41 straight days.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Cox Media Group