Government to announce testing facilities for travellers to the United States.

The Barbados Government is making provisions to ensure travellers to the United States will have ready access to COVID-19 tests and their results.

The Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc (BTMI) has given this assurance in a brief statement that comes on the heels of an announcement by United States authorities, which require travellers to present a negative COVID-19 test for entry into the country.

The BTMI said: “Rapid tests are accepted and over the next week, the Government of Barbados will be announcing testing facilities dedicated to travellers to the U.S., where rapid tests will be administered to allow fast-tracking of results for these special cases.”

At the weekend, a  posting by the United States Embassy in Barbados stated that the CDC has ordered that all airline passengers travelling to the US must provide proof of a negative COVID-19 viral test or recovery from COVID-19.

The statement noted: “Effective January 26, all airline passengers to the United States ages two years and older must provide either a negative COVID-19 viral test taken within three calendar days of travel or provide a positive test result and documentation from a licensed health care provider or public health official of having recovered from COVID-19 in the 90 days preceding travel.”  (BT/BTMI)