By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Health Minister Dr Duane Sands believes the government should move away from rapid antigen testing and instead require all travellers seeking to enter the country to produce a negative RT-PCR test in response to heightened concerns over the Omicron variant.

Stressing now is the time for the country to act in preparation of a potential fourth COVID wave, the former Cabinet minister recommended the rule be applied to both vaccinated and unvaccinated people and added the test submitted should be no older than three days.

Dr Sands spoke after the government-imposed travel restrictions against several African countries, including Botswana and Zimbabwe, in view of concerns of the new strain, which has since been identified as a variant of concern by the World Health Organisation.

Local officials have said it’s only a matter of time before the strain arrives here.

The new travel policy, which went into effect yesterday, states the country will no longer be allowing entry to non-residents who recently visited Botswana, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Bahamians and residents who travelled from these areas will not be prevented from entering the country, however they will be required to self-isolate for two weeks as a precautionary measure.

Dr Sands said: “I am certainly not surprised by the response of the government. Back in March of 2020, The Bahamas did a similar thing and I was an integral part to that discussion. With that said, I think we need to do considerably more if we’re going to impact what really is going to happen in The Bahamas.

“I think it’s time for us to move away from rapid antigen testing for travellers coming to The Bahamas vaccinated or not. It is time now that perhaps we move to PCR testing for everyone and the discrimination against persons that are unvaccinated, it’s time to roll that away.

“The issue is how do we keep this a safe, profitable and viable tourism destination. So, this stop gap measure may buy us a few days but in and of itself, I think we need to understand that it’s time to prepare for the worst even as we hope and pray for the best,” he added.

Former Health Minister Renward Wells also commented on the new strain yesterday, saying the Free National Movement will be closely monitoring the government’s response to the new threat.

He said during the onset of the pandemic, the Minnis administration moved quickly and aggressively to limit the risk of imported cases and added he hopes the government’s decision to further re-open the economy does not result in increasing infection rates.

“The Omicron variant seems to be challenging the global community and I’m very, very concerned that nations around the globe are responding to Omicron in the way it has given the fact that all the science on this new variant has not yet been put out,” Mr Wells said.

“But it is a good thing and it sort of signals in The Bahamas that we have to take the Omicron seriously because you have nations such as the UK, United States and others around the globe putting particular measures in place to protect their people at this time so we’re going to see.

“You know the (Davis) administration was very critical of us when we did not have testing for Bahamians over a three day period, those who went into Florida and came back and so I’m not going to criticise them because we’re seeking to work and to see to that the lives of the Bahamian people are protected and as I’ve said the proof of the pudding is going to be in the eating and I’m hoping that the openness that we now see and have in the country does not lend itself to increasing numbers should a variant come.”

According to international reports, more than a dozen countries have since detected the new strain, including Canada, England, Spain and Australia.