By Akil Franklyn on Monday, 28 February, 2022 at 07:15 PM

From February 28th visitors to Barbados will be allowed to enter with just a negative Rapid Antigen Test instead of the PCR test that has been required since the pandemic started.

During a COVID-19 Press briefing on Saturday, Minister of Health and Wellness, Ian Gooding Edgehill announced that this decision was made as a next step in reopening the economy.

This procedural change would not only ease the congestion on arrival, about which many visitors have complained, but convince travellers that are reluctant to be subjected to the COVID-19 testing protocols. This is the opinion of Chris Wilson, Customer Service Manager at GCG Ground Barbados as he expects an increase in passenger traffic after this news.

“You find that although people began travelling in droves, there are still quite a few that the cost and time the PCR test takes was a bit of a deterrent, especially for people that like to travel for the weekend,” Wilson stated.

As it stands, less than two per cent of the country's cases in the last two months were detected at the border.

Minister of Tourism and International Transport Senator Lisa Cummins also spoke on the congestion on arrival, indicating that passengers disembarking planes had long waits at the gates to ensure all of the document checks were completed.

Passengers had wait times exceeding two hours after their aircraft had landed to pass through this COVID-19 screening area, and switching to the Rapid Antigen Test will help smooth this process.