The British Airways flight arrived in Grand Cayman this afternoon (Monday 6 April 2020). The flight carried vital supplies for the Islands including urgent pharmaceuticals, personal protective equipment and test kits.
The flight returned 58 Caymanian students and other residents to the Island. On arrival the passengers were checked by Public Health and were immediately transferred by bus to a government quarantine facility. They will remain in highly supervised isolation for 14 days, after which they will be tested for Covid-19 before being able to return to their family homes.
Before landing on Grand Cayman the BA flight made a scheduled stop in Bermuda allowing 129 Bermudans to return home and for supplies to be delivered to the Overseas Territory.
The plane will also allow for a UK advisory team to travel to the Turks and Caicos Islands, to provide medical, operational and security expertise to local authorities.
The return leg of the flight departs on Tuesday afternoon where 131 people of varying nationalities will leave Cayman for London Heathrow. The flight will make a stop in Nassau where it will collect 44 British Nationals and other European passengers who wish to be repatriated to or via the UK.
Governor Martyn Roper said: “This flight has taken considerable effort to arrange at a time when moving people and consignments around the world is a global challenge. Its arrival has enabled vital supplies to be delivered to Cayman and increases our capacity for testing. It has also allowed many people to return home to both Cayman and Bermuda. The upmost care will be taken to isolate those returning travellers to limit the risk to the population to the absolute minimum. Tomorrow’s outbound flight will enable 131 people to return home from Cayman via London Heathrow. I am grateful for the support of the Premier in allowing this flight to land and to everyone who has been involved in its planning. I would like to thanks Andre Ebanks and his team at the Cayman Islands Government Office in London, Matthew Forbes, head of my office and his team and British Airways for outstanding collaboration and teamwork to make this happen in difficult circumstances.”
Photo courtesy of GIS.
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