AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums Belize Life News Reopening of the PGIA and Schools Delayed

Today at a press conference held in Belize City, it was announced that due to a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in three districts, there will be a delay in the reopening of the Philip Goldson International Airport (PGIA).

Prime Minister Rt. Dean Barrow said that although the airport will not reopen, the weekly repatriation flights for Belizean nationals abroad will continue, including the 14-day mandatory quarantine upon arrival.

Additionally, the Minister of Education Hon. Patrick Faber announced that the reopening the schools will also be delayed. He said the Ministry will continue to monitor the situation as it relates to COVID-19, and will make adjustments as deemed necessary. Any details regarding distance learning programs and other preparations for reopening will be made public as they become available.

Director of Health Services Dr. Marvin Manzanero also announced that the preliminary results from tests conducted in San Pedro Town resulted in 14 new potential positive cases of COVID-19, but the Ministry is currently undergoing the confirmation process.

The opening of both the airport and schools will be announced at a later date.

Hon. Patrick Faber, Minister of Education:
"That in light of the spike in cases and an overall uneasiness on the part of parents and teachers and in deed the students themselves that the ministry of education will adjust its plan for the national reopening of schools for August 10th, 2020 until further notice. So in short we will not be reopening schools nationally and we will announce at a later date when it is we plan to reopen schools."

Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister:
"The majority of them would have been going to Ambergris Caye, to San Pedro, that is clearly not on any longer and so it seems to me that that alone, knocks in the head any contemplation of trying to press forward with the August 15th re-opening of the PGIA so let me declare absolutely, unequivocally that we will not now reopen the PGIA on August 15th. This also affects Belizeans, those who did not want to go through the quarantine which is mandatory if you return on the weekly repatriation flights that have been coming out of Houston, well I am sorry, to the Belizeans now, forgetting the tourists for a moment, you will not be able to come on August the 15th so you will have to be confined to those weekly repatriation flights and you will have to be prepared to be mandatorily quarantined for 14 days."

American Airlines, responding to the delay in reopening the PGIA, said "if you do delay the airport reopening to September, we cannot provide a firm date of when we would resume service. We are currently in the midst of cutting capacity out of our September and October schedules. We therefore may end up cancelling this market longer term in the event that the closure extends past our currently planned resumption of August 18."