The Prime Minister stressed that there are many variables in the days ahead which will determine whether that opening date of early July is realistic. This includes the availability of rapid tests and so-called immunity passports.
But, Belizeans stuck abroad won't have to wait for all that. Since the end of March they've been banned from interring their country of citizenship. Many are stranded abroad in foreign lands - some are even stranded on cruise ships - and can't touch dry land.
Well, the PM had good news for them today - the border is opening up for citizens only - but they won't be able to go home immediately. Here's more:
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"The legal return of Belizeans, including students, that want to be repatriated, is now to begin. Those wishing to come home should write to the Foreign Ministry or our Embassies and Consulates indicating how and when they expect to arrive. The flow will have to be managed and all returnees will be subject to a mandatory 14 day quarantine."
Jules Vasquez, reporter
"So in lieu of any chartered flights should they expect to come through Cancun?"
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"I would concede that the Mexico route via Cancun would appear to be what is most in play. That is why we are careful in saying, look you can come but let's do a kind of census. Let us have you indicate who you are, when it is that you want to come, and how, by what route you expect to come so that we can then say alright we will initially accept a group of 50 perhaps, and the health people and those that are in charge of logistics will better advise us."
"But if you as a returnee can actually pay for your quarantine stay in some hotel/guesthouse facility, then you can presumably come in advance of others who say, look, I simply can't pay. At the end of the day those others will have to be allowed to come, nevertheless, but at a cost to the government."
"By and large you will most likely coming through Mexico. But we don't want to keep you quarantined in Corozal, the first point that you reach when you re-enter."
"If you are from Cayo we want to give you an escort to Cayo so that you can quarantine in Cayo, closer to your family. But, again, unless we rely on the hotel or guest house facilities to help with quarantine space you can see that it will be a long, drawn out process, so we are in fact encouraging those that can pay to help us, we would then, to repeat, as it were, contract the services of the various hotel and guest houses and those that are prepared to pay can come, as it were, immediately."
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