BIMINI residents are bashing the competent authority's decision to require PCR tests for travel to and from their island because the tests are not available there.

With COVID-19 cases rising on the island, the government on Thursday amended the Emergency Powers regulations to require that people who are not fully vaccinated produce a RT-PCR test administered by an accredited lab to travel to and from North and South Bimini.

Bimini MP Pakesia Parker-Edgecombe confirmed that PCR tests are not presently administered on Bimini.

“I am advised that residents will have to utilise the clinic for such tests, which will be sent to Nassau,” she said on Friday.

Asked if this means the government will send PCR tests to the clinic in Bimini, she said: “It is a must. And I am certain it will.”

Health Minister Renward Wells and other health officials did not respond to The Tribune’s messages and calls up to press time.

Obie Wilchcombe, the former MP for Bimini and the Progressive Liberal Party’s candidate in that constituency for the next general election, said it’s perplexing to announce the required PCR tests for an island that does not administer them.

“Nobody does that in Bimini,” he said. “Right now I think this is again a very negative development because the people of Bimini are being told to have a PCR test administered and there is no place to do it. What do you expect to happen? The government has to take another look at the decision or cause for the PCR test to take place at the clinic and ensure a mechanism is there to ensure that it can be done.”

According to the July 7 COVID-19 dashboard, seven cases of the virus were confirmed on Bimini and Cat Cay, bringing the total number of cases there to 189. To counter the surge in cases in Bimini, the competent authority implemented a 7pm to 5am curfew for the island on July 1 and restricted wedding, funeral and other activities.

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