In attendance as members of the NSC were the Hon. Deputy
Governor, Hon. Deputy Premier, Attorney General and Commissioner
of Police. Also in attendance as invited guest were the Hon.
Minister of Health, Hon. Minister of Tourism, the National
Security Strategy lead, officials from Ministry of Health,
Ministry of Tourism, Inter-Health Canada and Public Health
England.
At this meeting the NSC were:
-
updated from the Ministry of Health that there are currently
no suspected and/or confirmed cases of COVID-19 (novel
coronavirus) within the Turks and Caicos Islands
-
updated on the global statistics for COVID-19 (novel
coronavirus) including confirmed cases in the Caribbean
region, specifically the Dominican Republic, St. Bart’s and
St. Martin as well as confirmed cases in Florida
-
updated on the Ministry of Health’s effort to identify a
swiftest route for laboratory testing
-
updated on specific advice from Public Health England and the
Ministry of Health as set out in recent public notices
-
updated on the current reporting requirement by cruise ships
prior to arrival in TCI and took a decision to deny entry to
any cruise ship that has a suspected case of COVID-19 (novel
coronavirus)
-
updated on plans to streamline the current screening process
at the Providenciales International Airport (including Fixed
Based Operators)
-
updated on Cabinet approval for Contingency Funding for the
Ministry of Health, and agreed to fast track the recruitment
of additional staff for surveillance and screening
-
updated by the Ministry of Health and Inter-Health Canada on
the protocols in place to prevent and/or reduce community
transmission of COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) including
quarantine
-
updated on plans to engage the National Security Advisory
Group and other critical key stakeholders in the public and
private sector
Finally, the NSC agreed a series of key actions for officials to
report back in the coming days and for the NSC to meet weekly on
the issue of COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) for the foreseeable
future.
