Two repatriation flights from Trinidad and Barbados yesterday brought home over 300 Guyanese nationals who were stranded abroad after borders were closed by governments to curb travel during the still-ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Director General of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) Egbert Field last night told Stabroek News that the flights were facilitated by Caribbean Airlines and Eastern Airlines.
The Caribbean Airlines flight brought home 140 stranded Guyanese, both residents and students, from Barbados and Trini-dad, while the Eastern Airlines flight brought home the 180 stranded Royal Caribbean cruise line workers who were stuck onboard a ship which was docked off the coast of Barbados.
The Caribbean Airlines flight landed at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) at approximately 12.30 pm, while the Eas-tern Airlines flight arrived in Guyana at 4.30 pm.
Under the guidelines issued by the National COVID-19 Task Force, all passengers are subject to a seven-day home quarantine and will be monitored by the Surveillance Department of the Public Health Ministry to ensure they are complying with requirements.
According to Field, another set of repatriation flights are expected but the details of these flights are still to be confirmed.
Before a flight is chartered, the GCAA must receive an approved list of names of persons who have tested negative for COVID-19 via Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests. Before the list of approved names is put together, health officials are required to verify the test for its authenticity.
Once there is a list of approved names, Field said, the aviation authority goes ahead and books the flight with an airline.
The National COVID-19 Task Force has so far approved the controlled re-entry of approximately 300 Guyanese through the nation’s international airports providing that they follow a series of guidelines, including securing a negative COVID-19 test using PCR testing and a mandatory seven-day quarantine. The first batch of stranded Guyanese to be repatriated arrived on June 6, on a flight from Miami, with 109 passengers.