By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Tribune Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

TOURISM Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar has said the country cannot afford to enter a third COVID-19 wave, noting a worrisome uptick in COVID-19 cases over the past few weeks.

On Saturday, 42 new cases were recorded, bringing the nation’s total to 9,076. Friday saw 34 new COVID-19 cases, while 14 cases were recorded on Thursday, 33 on Wednesday, 12 on Monday and 14 last Sunday for a total of 167 last week. Thirty people are currently in the hospital.

Health officials confirmed 160 cases the previous week.

The Tribune understands the climbing COVID-19 numbers have concerned the government, sparking discussions at the Cabinet level over whether certain islands may now need tighter restrictions.

The Minnis administration wants to get a handle on this situation as it awaits a shipment of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines from the World Health Organisation’s COVAX facility and simultaneously deals with the vaccination programme being oversubscribed in some instances.

It was unclear up to press time what kind of restriction tightening could come.

While he offered no comment on recent Cabinet discussions, Mr D’Aguilar said a third wave could usher in dramatic setbacks for this nation, which has proven some level of resiliency in the tourism market that is now rebounding.

“We can’t afford for there to be a third wave; that will set us back dramatically,” he told The Tribune yesterday.

Mr D’Aguilar expressed mixed feelings of surprise and disappointment over the Royal Bahamas Police Force’s revelation that several people have tried to travel to the Family Islands using false COVID-19 RT-PCR test results.

“I was surprised and I am disappointed,” the Freetown MP said yesterday. “I would have thought that we’re all in this together. We all have to social distance. We all have to wear masks. We all have to abide by the health protocols, but some people I know are getting very tired of this.

“What we see around the world and what we are seeing in our country is a slight uptick in cases. This COVID-19 virus is certainly not behind us and until we get 80 percent of the population vaccinated we are going to have to abide by the health protocols in order to keep the number of cases at a minimum.

“We’ve all seen the uptick in people in the hospital and every time someone goes into the hospital there is a possibility that they will have an unfortunate outcome and so I think there are also a number of people who are in ICU so we all have to do our bit.

“You think you are being clever by circumventing the rules. It affects us all so there has to be an attempt made to get us refocused.”

About the false tests, he said: “I found out about it like everyone else – in the press.

“It seems there is probably a ring involved in all of this but when you find out the penalty involved: a $4,000 fine and (two) years in jail, I’m not sure if it’s worth it. Would you rather pay a $4,000 fine or $125 to take the test?

“But I guess the bigger issue is there is probably a certain level of fatigue and frustration about cost in getting the test. The government is cognizant via the Ministry of Health of the uptick in the number of COVID cases and so they are of the view that people should still travel especially domestically if they have to and they are not going to relax the health protocols.

“Now that the police are aware of this they are probably going to establish more contact persons to check the labs to validate and verify these tests.”

According to police, on Friday while at LPIA’s Domestic Section, six adults and one minor who were scheduled to travel to various Family Islands, presented digital and physical PCR tests to the COVID-19 ambassadors for inspection.

Upon examination of the documents and cross checks with alleged test administrators it was discovered that the documents presented were false.

The suspects were taken into custody.

In a separate incident on Thursday, a man was also taken into custody accused of having fraudulent documents relating to COVID-19 tests.

Last night, police said 11 people are now in custody. They are expected to face court charges today.