UWI students, cruise ship workers to return

OVER 300 cruise ship workers and hundreds of University of the West Indies (UWI) students will return home to TT within the next week.

TT’s borders were closed at midnight on March 22 to curb the spread of covid19. "We are very sympathetic and we have a lot of empathy for all our nationals who are outside of TT, believe me. We are getting thousands of requests, and we as a Government understand the difficulty that each family is facing as they try to get their family member who is outside back in," Minister of National Security Stuart Young said at a media briefing, on Saturday.

Over the next week, 600 to 1,000 nationals will return.

Over 300 nationals working with Royal Caribbean International will return home on Friday. Young said everyone will be tested and quarantined on the cruise ship. He said doctors, on a daily basis, will be monitoring between 326 and 360 people on the ship. On Thursday, 26 workers on the Carnival Fantasy returned to Trinidad and are in quarantine at the Home of Football in Couva.

Young also said nationals working on service ships and rigs at sea will return because some of them have been at sea for 150 days.

He said TT nationals are working around the world, including Mexico, United Kingdom, USA, Bangladesh and China and they want to see their families.

All UWI students based in Mona, Jamaica and Cave Hill, Barbados will be brought home on Saturday which could be over 300 or 400 students, according to Young. He said the reason for the delay in bringing the students home was because of examinations. Students will be quarantined at the UWI St Augustine campus where they will have access to the internet to continue their studies.

A total of 25 deportees will return to these shores from the US during the month of June.