Mandatory COVID testing for detainees due to non-cooperation

Health Minister Carvin Malone said there is an increasing trend where persons who have been detained or are in conflict with the law have refused to be tested for COVID-19.

Malone made the disclosure yesterday September 20, during a COVID-19 update.

According to the minister, such persons potentially expose and place all law enforcement officers at considerable risk.

“While there are legal restrictions that prohibit the enforcement of testing of all persons in conflict with the law, irrespective to them being officially charged for an offence, Cabinet decided that prior to being lawfully detained, a person shall be required to take a COVID-19 rapid test unless the Attorney General advises otherwise,” the Health Minister announced.

“In other words, a person who is been arrested and being held at the police station, if subsequently charged, will be subjected to a rapid antigen test prior to being transported to Her Majesty’s Prison,” he explained.

The Health Minister further said that during the summer months, a number of unvaccinated or at times, partly-vaccinated minors arrived in the territory and issues have arisen when the guardians who have come to collect them then, in turn, refuse to be quarantined with these minors or refuse to pay for quarantine devices for the minors.

As a result of this, Malone said Cabinet decided that where any unaccompanied minor who is vaccinated or partially vaccinated arrives at a port of entry, they along with a parent or guardian must be subject to quarantine and exit testing at the same time as the unaccompanied minor.

“Again, where ever there are issues of non-compliance and non-cooperation, we must let the law dictate and guide expectations,” the Health Minister added