Scaled-down carnival in July for Antigua

Antigua and Barbuda will hold a “scaled-down” carnival lasting seven days this year and the island will also allow unvaccinated nationals to return home under certain conditions.

A statement from the government said that Minister of Creative Industries, Michael Browne has assured that there will be no super-spread events during the festival that is held annually from the end of July to the first week Tuesday in August.

Browne said he anticipates that T-shirt mas and city blocks filled with cultural exhibits of one sort or another will mark carnival 2022, marking the second consecutive year that the island had not been able to put on its full array of activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed 135 people and infected 7,395 others since March 2020

It said regarding the discussions on relaxing COVID-19 restrictions as they pertain to a number of nationals wanting to return home but are not vaccinated, the deputy chief medical officer and the chief health inspector were invited to address the ministers and and “following intense discussions, with safety and security serving as underlying concerns, Cabinet agreed to allow unvaccinated nationals to return to their homeland.”

But it said they would only be allowed to do so after taking either a PCR test or a rapid antigen test, within four days of departure to Antigua and that on arrival the person will agree to spend seven or 10 days in quarantine with a tracking bracelet and will take another test prior to joining family members and friends.