GRAND CAYMAN, Cayman Islands
–The events of the last few days, with the confirmation of the
first COVID 19 infected person, combined with his subsequent death
and the impact on Health City Cayman Islands has understandably
created much concern in our community.

A concern that I am sure has been
heightened by the images that we see on our TV screens and on social
media of what is playing out in Italy and elsewhere. A concern that
similar scenes could play out here at home.

Let me say two things. I am
concerned as well. But we should not panic. I say this because I, as
Premier, and the entire Government, have been focusing on this for
weeks. Our health professionals have also been focusing on this. And
we will continue to focus and take the best advice available and to
then make the decisions that we believe are in the best interest of
all of the community

.

Whilst the Government and health
professionals play our part each person living here also has a part
to play to help keep the community as safe as we can by practising
social distancing and good hand hygiene.

But I do want you to know that we
are, I am, taking the march of COVID 19 through the Caribbean very
seriously. The primary role of Government is to protect the health,
safety and well-being of its people. I, along with my Government take
this role very seriously. This has been at the forefront of
everything that we have done over the past two terms.

And this is why we took the decisions
that we did on Friday last to ban cruise-ships for 60 days and to
close educational facilities; cancel the final day of the
inter-primary sports day; and to implement a ban of no more than 50
persons at places other than supermarkets, medical facilities,
pharmacies. This excludes staff at their places of work - though if
at all possible we encourage businesses to allow those staff who can
work from home to do so.

We also added several at-risk
countries to the list of banned countries.

But as I indicated on Friday there
were other measures being considered to help protect and safeguard
our Islands. It is important that while we as a country seek to
minimise the possibilities of local transmission that we do all we
can to ensure that we prevent new infections reaching our shores.

So today I am announcing that the
Cabinet has approved the following:

1. To close the Owen Roberts
   International Airport and the Charles Kirkconnell International
   Airport for international passenger flights for a temporary period
   of three weeks, beginning Sunday, 22 March, 2020, at 11:59 pm until
   Sunday, 12 April, 2020, at 11:59 pm.
   
2. For all destinations except for
   the United Kingdom, inbound flights from Thursday, 19 March, 2020,
   will operate for returning residents only.
   
   
3. Outbound flights will operate as
   usual through Sunday, 22 March 2020.
   
4. With immediate effect, any
   person arriving in the Cayman Islands will be required to be
   isolated for 14 days.
   
   
5. Inter-Island flights will
   continue; however, flights from Grand Cayman into Cayman Brac and
   Little Cayman will be restricted to residents and essential persons,
   for example, medical staff, etc. This because, as we all know,
   Cayman Brac has a significant elderly population and we want to
   ensure that they are protected.
   
   
6. Cargo flights, as well as
   courier flights, will continue as will emergency medical air-
   ambulance flights needed to take residents overseas for medical
   treatment.
   

We have not taken this decision
lightly, but it is in the best interest and for the health of the
people of the Cayman Islands. As a premier vacation destination of
choice, this decision will help ensure that the Cayman Islands will
be able to not only protect our people but to also protect the
welfare of our tourism business and our guests over the long term.

We should always remember that
because we have our own airline, Cayman Airways, we can maintain our
air links as necessary. There are also options being pursued by the
Governor, for which I thank him, to ensure that there is an
‘air-bridge’ maintained between the UK and its Overseas
Territories during this period. We will advise more on this once
details are confirmed.

I can also state that the decision,
including the timing, was not made in isolation. Since Friday and
over the weekend the Government has held meetings with key segments
of our economy and more are planned. These include the banks, water
companies, telecoms companies, Caribbean Utilities, the Chamber of
Commerce, the supermarkets and main food and goods importers, the
financial services sector, the tourism sector, and doctors
representing the Cayman Islands Medical and Dental Society.

Conversations were wide ranging and
encouraging. I am satisfied that everyone is taking this threat
seriously and everyone supported the measures being taken by
Government. From what was said they all have plans to protect their
staff and to keep their key businesses running. This is important to
ensure that we maintain the services that a modern society requires.

I was also heartened by what I heard
with regards to a willingness to assist those persons who will be hit
hard by the economic reality that we are facing. The ban on cruise
ships automatically means that several thousand people working in
this industry will be impacted.

In discussions with the banks, they
have all agreed to work individually with clients with mortgages and
loans who are impacted during this period. Also, all of the water,
electricity, and telecoms companies gave assurances that they would
not disconnect customers. They also committed to working
individually with customers who are having difficulty making their
payments. They will individually be advising their customers of their
plans in this regard. I thank them all again – it is in times like
these that we must come together as a community and that we are
doing.

There are other measures that are
being worked on to help keep people employed and to keep food on the
table, especially those in the tourism sector that is being hit hard,
as you would have seen in today’s Compass; more on those at a later
date, perhaps as soon as tomorrow.

Whilst our tourism sector is now down
it is not out by any means and we will work through this and rebuild
once the worst is over. In our meeting with financial services, it
was good to hear that they too supported the measures we are taking
and were themselves taking precautions to ensure the strength of the
business here continues. We are open for business and remain focused
on serving local and international clients. They also have robust
business continuity plans to ensure that clients can be served.

These are challenging times but as I have said previously, because of the sound financial management of Government finances over the last administration and this one we are better placed than ever before to ride out these types of situations. And we also have a strong and professional medical system, private and public, who are committed to helping keep us safe. As you would have heard there are no concerns regarding supplies of foodstuff and goods coming in so please everyone, do not panic buy.

NOTE: This PR was amended by The Premier's Office today at 4:18 PM