By Clive Bacchus
Basseterre, St. Kitts (WINN)- After a 24-hour lockdown on St. Kitts, effective Sunday, June 27 from 6 pm to 5 am July 6, was announced by the government, it didn’t take long for old pictures of people queuing up at the Basseterre Ferry Terminal to begin circulating on social media.
Those pictures are from another time, before restrictions on travel from St. Kitts to Nevis were imposed by the Nevis Island Administration.
St. Kitts (population estimated at close to 36,000) has close to 313 active cases and the country as a whole has 428 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and three deaths.
Nevis, with about one-third of the population of St. Kitts, has 15 confirmed cases.
On St. Kitts, with exceptions for “days of limited operations,” people are expected to shelter at home.
On Nevis, protocols include nightly curfews and other measures but island life generally continues.
Aware of the threat of an increase in COVID-19 cases, the authorities on Nevis are moving to further restrict travel across the Narrows.
The Nevis Seaports Authority’s new protocols announced Saturday, June 26, and effective Sunday, June 27:
1. All scheduled passenger ferry operations will be discontinued at the Charlestown Port until Monday, July 12th, 2021.
2. All essential passenger travel will be directed to the Oualie Water Taxi Facility commencing Sunday 27th, June 2021 to Monday 12th July 2021 in the first instance.
a. Charter services will be allowed for essential travel once approved by the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force (RSKNPF) and the NASPA.
3. All essential travelers must provide documentation identifying them as essential personnel in the form of a written permission from the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force which can be obtained at www.police.kn.
4. Cargo operations will continue between islands only on a schedule approved by the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force and the NASPA.
a. Operations at Sea Bridge must also be pre-approved by the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force and NASPA.
5. A coordinated effort between the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force, the NASPA, Security, and Marine Department, St. Kitts and Nevis Customs and Excise Department, St. Kitts and Nevis Defense Force, and the Ministry of Tourism, Beach Patrol, will provide 24-hour land and sea surveillance to ensure strict compliance to the new protocols for the duration of the lockdown on St. Kitts.
6. All fishermen based in St. Kitts, who wish to conduct business in Nevis, are only authorized to use the Tender Pier, or middle pier, at the Charlestown Port.
a. Owners and operators of beach bars will be required to purchase fish from fishermen at the Charlestown Port and not on Pinneys Beach.
b. Fishermen based in Nevis are allowed to continue operations at other areas, however, names of the crew should be reported to NASPA and the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force prior to departing.
c. All fishermen based in Nevis wishing to conduct business at the Charlestown Sea Port or the Oualie Water Taxi Facility must first notify security at the respective ports, who
will then provide an escort.
7. Persons with complaints or reporting suspicious activities along the coastline are asked to call 3-1-1.
