The Cayman Islands Government issued, over the weekend, new coronavirus (COVID-19) travel regulations, which will take effect this Friday, December 17.

The newly amended regulations will reduce the COVID-19 testing window for arriving passengers from 72 hours to no earlier than the day before departure. The new rule will apply to unvaccinated and vaccinated persons aged 5 and older.

The measures are a response to the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus, which has been deemed a variant of concern by the World Health Organization (WHO). As of last Friday, the total number of active cases in Cayman declined marginally to 3,448. The number of COVID-19 patients in hospital fell to 14.

Stipulations of the new regulations

The new regulation stipulates that for travel from Grand Cayman to Cayman Brac or Little Cayman, a COVID-19 test is not required if an approved vaccine course has been completed at least 14 days prior to the date of travel.

This is providing that the traveller is not showing any respiratory symptoms or symptoms of the virus. The rule will apply to people 5 years of age and older.

However, where an approved vaccine course was not completed at least 14 days prior to travel, a test will be required to be conducted no earlier than the day prior to departure to Brac or Little Cayman.

The updated regulations define departure as any connecting flights or transit flights to the islands, where the layover between flights is less than 12 hours.

In addition, the changes, published in the Cayman Islands Gazette, expand the types of tests that are accepted from PCR tests to certified rapid antigen, also known as lateral flow tests.

To be deemed certified, such tests must have a sensitivity of at least 80 per cent, a specificity of at least 97 per cent, and be recommended or approved by a national public health agency of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica or Canada.

The test result must also show the name and address of the approved laboratory or registered provider where the test was provided.