Cayman Islands’ Borders to Remain Closed thru May

The Cayman Islands’ borders will remain closed until at least the end of May as Cabinet has extended last week’s order closing the airports and the ports to passenger traffic to protect this country from the global COVID-19 pandemic. 

According to the Cayman News Service, the cargo ports will remain open for goods and the airport for emergencies. The only people likely to pass through the borders will be those leaving on charters organised by government to fly foreign nationals home and return Caymanians stranded abroad.

At Thursday’s press briefing Premier Alden McLaughlin confirmed the decision to keep Cayman’s borders closed through the end of next month but he has indicated on several occasions over the last few weeks that Cayman is likely to be closed to all visitors until the end of the year.

The premier also said that no cruise ships would be calling here, despite international media reports that some cruise lines were claiming they would be back at sea in May and calling on Caribbean destinations including Grand Cayman. “They made those publications without any consultations with us,” he said.

The optimism of the cruise companies appears to have been misplaced, given that in an order issued on Thursday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention extended its ‘no sail order’ for cruise ships in American waters, possibly for as much as 100 days, due to the ongoing spread of coronavirus around the world.