Martinique and Guadeloupe threaten to close their borders with Saint-Martin / Sint Maarten

Martinique and Guadeloupe are monitoring the health situation in Saint-Martin very closely and could close their borders with the friendly island if the number of active cases of covid-19 does not decline rapidly. As of yesterday, the French side had 85 active cases and the Dutch side 209.

The prefect of Martinique who is also the prefect of the area responsible for coordinating the cross-border cooperation policy in the Antilles-Guyana, expressed this desire last week to the prefect of Saint-Martin. Even if the French part is less impacted than the Dutch side, the island is considered as a whole, as a single territory. So, even if it has fewer cases than Sint Maarten, it could be considered a risk zone by Martinique and Guadeloupe. A situation that Sylvie Feucher wants to avoid at all costs.

"This would mean that we would find ourselves in the same circumstances as we experienced with restrictions on inter-island travel, the obligation to justify a compelling reason and to present a negative PCR test dating back less than 72 hours," he said. -she. "This will have consequences at the social and economic level with a reduction in thefts," she adds. And to affirm: "the people having to travel will not have priority at the level of the tests."

This is why the Prefect asks the entire population to be vigilant, to respect the barrier gestures and other measures put in place locally, such as that of not going to the Dutch part if this is not essential. . The police and gendarmes in charge of carrying out checks in Bellevue and Belle Plaine have already seen people go shopping in Sint Maarten, note the officials of the PAF and the gendarmerie.

Finally, Sylvie Feucher has already imposed on people residing in Guadeloupe or Martinique who have come to stay in Sint Maarten or who have transited to Sint Maarten to go in particular to the United States, to present the negative results of a PCR test dating back less than 72 years. hours upon check-in at Grand Case Airport upon return.

(soualigapost.com)

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