Bahamas' new guidelines for vaccinated: No RT-PCR required to travel, can go restaurants for dining

Bahamas: The Bahamas government announced additional guidelines for the people who are fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The government announced that all restaurants on the island previously prohibited from offering indoor dining can now offer indoor dining to the people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in accordance with the recently released emergency powers of COVID-19 pandemic management and recovery order, 2021. The new guidelines apply to New Provident and Abaco.

The government further stated that inoculated persons would have to furnish their documentary proof of vaccination before entering for dine-in. The government reminded that people are urged to follow all the COVID-19 protocols during their visit to the restaurant, including the staff.

The new order outlined that people travelling from New Providence or Grand Bahamas would not be required to take the RT-PCR test for COVID-19. Nor they will have to take the secondary testing on day 5 of inter-island travel.

Fully vaccinated persons who wish to travel to the Bahamas would not be required to take an RT-PCR test before travelling to the country. The above guidelines would be applicable only if the person is inoculated with two doses of COVID-19 vaccine and two weeks have been elapsed since the person has received the second dose.

However, travellers coming to the Bahamas will have to obtain a Travel Health Visa and visa fees have been reduced for citizens and residents who wish to travel in the country.

According to the Bahamas government, the international travel health visas for fully vaccinated citizens and residents is $10, and all other domestic travel visas are free of any charge.

In case, a person is caught providing false information of vaccination; the person will face $10,000 or two years of imprisonment or both.

Grand Bahamas will remain under strict curfew starting from 11 PM to 5 AM every day and in New Providence, the daily curfew would remain from 10 PM to 5 AM.

The new order states that people travelling from Abaco, Eleuthera and Exuma would not be required to take RT-PCR COVID-19 testing report. However, the RT-PCR test requirements remain the same for the people who are not fully vaccinated.