BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Friday 11th September 2020)- The St.Kitts-Tourism Authority has revealed that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in its latest update on travel recommendations by destination placed the Federation of St.Kitts-Nevis as being very low risk amidst COVID-19.

A statement issued on Tuesday 9th September 2020 informed that “the CDC has upgraded St. Kitts & Nevis COVID-19 Risk Assessment Level as “No Travel Health Notice: COVID-19 Risk is Very Low.” This assessment classification reinforces that St. Kitts & Nevis is among the safest destinations worldwide for individuals considering travel at this time.  St. Kitts and Nevis is 1 of only 10 Caribbean countries to have this CDC classification.
 
Minister of Tourism & Transport Lindsay Grant is quoted as saying: The recent assessment by the CDC is a testament to the success of our ‘All of Society Approach’ to combatting the threat of COVID-19. Citizens and residents of the Federation have adhered to the health and safety protocols established by medical experts resulting in one of the lowest rates of infection in the Caribbean. Their commitment has helped us to achieve this milestone, which comes just as the Federation is preparing to reopen borders in the coming month.”

The St.Kitts Tourism Authority pointed out that to date, the Federation has reported 17 total cases all of which have recovered and currently there are no active cases.

It was also noted that St. Kitts & Nevis has one of the highest testing rates in CARICOM and the Eastern Caribbean and uses only the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test which is the gold standard of testing.
 
As reported further on, as of August 6, 2020, the CDC replaced their global travel notice advising against all non-essential travel with destination-specific COVID-19 notices for all foreign countries providing public data classifying them into four different categories: Level 3 (high risk), Level 2 (moderate risk), Level 1 (low risk), or no THN (very low risk). St. Kitts & Nevis has been assessed at “very low risk,” thus requiring No Travel Health Notice. It is one of only 26 countries worldwide and one of only 10 Caribbean nations where the risk is categorized very low – so low that No Travel Notice is required.

The Federation is planning on reopening of its border in October 2020 with travel requirements and protocols for visitors expected to be announced.