OT­TO CAR­RING­TON

Thir­ty-three Trinidad and To­ba­go na­tion­als strand­ed in Bar­ba­dos by the COVID-19 virus are ex­pect­ed to re­turn home to­day.

At­tor­ney Prakash Ra­mad­har said yes­ter­day that Min­is­ter of Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Stu­art Young had grant­ed the group an ex­emp­tion al­low­ing en­try af­ter much de­lib­er­a­tion last evening.

The 33 na­tion­als, who were on a va­ca­tion cruise in Dubai be­fore they made their way home via Eng­land, were left strand­ed in Bar­ba­dos on March 23, one day af­ter the T&T Gov­ern­ment closed the bor­ders.

Since their ar­rival in Bar­ba­dos, the group has been in quar­an­tine at their own ex­pense.

Con­tact­ed yes­ter­day, Phillip Ram­di­al, one of the na­tion­als, said: “We are ex­pect­ed to be on 10 am and 1 pm flight via Caribbean Air­lines.

“The rea­son for the two flights, it will be a mea­sure to en­sure so­cial dis­tanc­ing on the plane to T&T.

“We are glad that this or­deal can be over. So far, none of us have shown any signs of the coro­n­avirus and we have un­der­gone quar­an­tine and we were ex­am­ined by Bar­ba­dos health pro­fes­sion­als and we were giv­en cer­tifi­cates of fit­ness.

“The group have agreed to screen­ing, test­ing and quar­an­tine again when we re­turn to Trinidad and To­ba­go.

“How­ev­er, through our at­tor­neys, we have not re­ceived word from the Chief Med­ical Of­fi­cer as to whether our quar­an­tine will be state or in our homes.”

Dur­ing yes­ter­day’s vir­tu­al me­dia brief­ing, how­ev­er, Health Min­is­ter Ter­rence Deyals­ingh said the group will be met by a med­ical team when they ar­rive to­day.

“The Bar­ba­di­an au­thor­i­ties will be send­ing hope­ful­ly, a de­tailed break­down of the per­sons, their health sta­tus, so that when they land in Trinidad and To­ba­go they will be med­ical­ly as­sessed and see what pos­si­ble care we can give to them.

“Not on­ly com­ing in­to the coun­try but al­so to see about their un­der­ly­ing health con­cerns. So the Chief Med­ical Of­fi­cer has a team stand­ing by to do just that,” Deyals­ingh said.

He al­so said he could not deal with ap­peals for care pack­ages for oth­er na­tion­als still strand­ed abroad.

“I will be re­spon­si­ble for them once they land here,” he said.

Speak­ing to the T&T Guardian, Ra­mad­har said he and col­league Lar­ry Lal­la had com­mu­ni­cat­ed with Young and sub­mit­ted all the req­ui­site doc­u­ments for the re­turn of the na­tion­als and the re­ceived ap­proval for the na­tion­als to re­turn yes­ter­day evening.

“These na­tion­als have ex­haust­ed most of their funds. It is cost­ing them US$25,000 to se­cure flights,” Ra­mad­har said.

“The 33 have agreed to screen­ing, test­ing and quar­an­tine on their re­turn. Dur­ing their pe­ri­od in Bar­ba­dos, they un­der­went quar­an­tine and were ex­am­ined by doc­tors there.

“Cer­tifi­cates of fit­ness were hand­ed out and none of them had a sin­gle symp­tom of COVID-19.”

He said he is hop­ing the group will be placed in home quar­an­tine, es­pe­cial­ly as they showed no symp­toms and they are open to be­ing test­ed for the virus again.

He said the strand­ed group want­ed to give a heart­felt thanks to the many Bar­ba­dos na­tion­als and the gov­ern­ment for their hos­pi­tal­i­ty and to the T&T Gov­ern­ment for al­low­ing them to re­turn home.

Ef­forts to con­tact Young for com­ment on the mat­ter were un­suc­cess­ful yes­ter­day as he did not re­turn calls to his cell­phone.