Kralendijk- The presence of the so-called British Covid-19 variant has been confirmed on Bonaire.

While Public Health for some days already suspected the presence of the more contagious variant on the island, this had still not been confirmed. Public Health authorities had sent various samples of infected persons to The Netherlands for further analysis, but on Friday morning results had not been received as of yet.

On Friday afternoon however, Public Health did receive information from The Netherlands that 6 samples had indeed tested positive for British Covid-19 strain.

While the variant is more contagious, it is still unknown if symptoms of the strain are more severe than the more ‘classic’ variant. The presence of the British variant could however explain why infections on Bonaire have grown so quick over the past few days.

Risk level

In light of the increasing Covid-19 infections the Government of Bonaire has officially declared Risk level 5. This means that most shops need to be closed, people are asked to work at home as much as possible, large visits at home are discouraged and restaurants can only provide take-out service.

Air traffic however continues normally, taking into account the requirement of a PCR-test and for most high risk countries, also an Antigen test taken no longer than 4 hours prior to departure of your flight.

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