COVID-19 at P.G.I.A.; 12 Immigration Officers Quarantined

A dozen immigration officers attached to the Philip Goldson International Airport are in quarantine tonight after they tested positive over the weekend.  In a press release issued late this evening, the Ministry of Immigration says that its entire staff at the P.G.I.A. is in isolation following the positive cases among the team. To continue uninterrupted service, the ministry says, “…staff from the Immigration Department who have experience working at the airport are substituting.” This evening, Minister of Health and Wellness Michel Chebat told the press more about this first cluster of COVID-19 cases at the airport.

Michel Chebat, Minister of Health & Wellness

“There are twelve of the seventeen immigration officers tested positive over the weekend at the P.G.I.A.  Since then, there has been an additional, I believe, it is a hundred and twenty-two persons who work at the P.G.I.A. have been tested and they are all negative so far.”

Reporter

“Did health officials detect the index case and how did that person get infected?”

Michel Chebat

Michel Chebat

“No we don’t yet have that information or I don’t have that information yet.”

Reporter

“But it is believed that the index case brought it to the P.G.I.A. or got infected there?”

Michel Chebat

“I don’t know and I wouldn’t want to speculate.   It is still too new; these numbers just came about over the weekend so it is something we are still conducting contact tracing for the P.G.I.A. so it is still new and we are working on that.   It is difficult to pinpoint because as you say there are many people passing through the airport so it would be more difficult to say who the index case would have been in that scenario.”

Chebat noted that this is the first cluster of cases at a port of entry in Belize since the pandemic began over a year ago.