System for re-entry worked well on Day one | 17 more to land on Day 2

Three locals transitioned smoothly from their aircraft to isolated quarantine accommodations when they returned to the territory through the TB Lettsome International Airport on Wednesday afternoon.

This now paves the way for more than a dozen new passengers to land today, Thursday, June 4.

Chief Environmental Health Officer Lionel Michael told BVI News that during the first day of arrivals on June 3, passenger-screening showed that all returnees appeared to have normal body temperatures. High temperature is one of the telltale signs of COVID-19.

“Everything went well. Everyone was present. It included people boarding the flight, people disembarking the flight,” Michael told BVI News.

“It went well in the sense that the systems worked. The people were screened and transported in the bus, the security system was in place, everything was in place apart from the timing that the flights arrived. Some flights arrived early that offset the balance. But, generally speaking, it went well.”

He said two persons arrived from the US mainland on the private air charter company, Island Birds, and another arrived on a private plane from St Thomas in the neighbouring US Virgin Islands.

There was a third flight that transported someone from the territory to St Croix for medical purposes. It returned the same day.

Pre-arrival simulation exercise

Earlier that morning, authorities held a stimulation exercise and tested the procedures and protocols for the arrival of flights, which paved the way for the successful first day.

He said the stimulation included someone pretending to be sick. That individual was immediately transported to an isolation tent located on airport grounds and attended to by health personnel who are stationed on-site.

17 returnees scheduled to arrive June 4

On Thursday, Silver Airways is expected to arrive from Puerto Rico while VI Airlink is slated to arrive with another set of passengers from St Thomas.

A total of 17 returning nationals are expected to arrive on these two flights, Michael said.

Between June 2 and 15, BVI nationals and residents are allowed to return home during the first phase of the reopening of the territory’s borders.

Up to Sunday, May 31, nearly 300 had registered to return.