On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019.[7][8]
On 23 March, the first case in the Turks and Caicos Islands was confirmed.[2]
On 27 March, The Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force issued a mandatory stay at home order and curfew. Violators of the order were subject to fines, imprisonment and confiscation of vehicles.[12]
April 2020
On 5 April, the first death due to COVID-19 had been announced. It was a middle-aged man who had recently travelled to the United States.[3]
On 17 April, the United Kingdom send medical supplies to the Turk and Caicos Islands in three batches.[13]
On 18 April, a patient transferred from the Turks and Caicos Islands to Jamaica for advanced critical care tested positive for COVID-19.[14]
On 24 April, it was announced that the Turks and Caicos Islands now have the ability to test for COVID-19 locally and will commence widespread testing. Up to now the samples were forwarded to the Caribbean Public Health Agency.[15]
May 2020
On 1 May, residents which are struggling to make ends meet will receive $200 food vouchers for a period of three months.[16]
On 12 May, the number of active cases was zero. One person left the country which accounts for the math.[4]
As of 14 May, there were no active cases. However, 54 people were in quarantine or under observation, with five suspected cases.[17]
June 2020
On 20 June, two new cases had been discovered.[5] One case was a quarantined resident who had returned to the island, the second had been in contact with the aforementioned person.[18]
On 25 June, two cases of community spread had been discovered on the island.[18]
On 29 June, an elderly man with underlying health conditions died from COVID-19.[19]
The Ministry of Health also enacted section 18 of the Emergency Powers (COVID-19) Regulations 2020, making it a criminal offence to spread or disseminate unverified or false information about the virus, whether the direct source of the information or not.[21]
Cruise ships have been banned with the only port on the island of Grand Turk shut down until 30 June.[22]
All airports, seaports, beaches, schools, restaurants and other businesses are closed until 4 May.[22] This was extended until 22 July.[23]
Starting on 27 March, the Turks and Caicos Islands will be under full lock down for three weeks.[25] The lock down will end on 4 May and a phased reopening will commence.[24] Curfew had ended on 22 June.[23]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
