Archive for February, 2022
PPM calls for case by case assessment on stipend
(CNS): Opposition Leader Roy McTaggart has criticised the PACT Government for its handling of the tourism stipend and its efforts to reduce the number of recipients, as the PPM responded to the government’s last-minute U-turn. Following a backlash from people who were told that they would no longer be receiving the money, the government introduced […]
Labour minister pushes bosses to take on locals
(CNS): Employers will not find it as easy to get work permits approved as they did in the past, Labour Minister Chris Saunders said Thursday, revealing that applications for permits are being increasingly scrutinized. Saying that the PACT Government is committed to a ‘Cayman first’ policy and enforcing this part of the immigration law, the […]
Dart accused of eco-destruction by landowners
(CNS): Harris McCoy, one of several landowners in dispute with Kenneth Dart over the bike trails he is cutting in North Side that are encroaching on their land, has said Dart’s workers are destroying trees and endangered plants on his property, including rare endemic orchids.
Driver dies two days after major crash
(CNS): Seamard Green, a 43-year-old man from Bodden Town who was involved in a single-car crash on Wednesday night (16 February), has died as a result of the injuries he sustained when the vehicle overturned and caught fire. Police said he was pronounced dead on Friday morning at the Cayman Islands Hospital in George Town.
New rules relaxing COVID-19 restrictions released
(CNS): The new regulations relating to the management of COVID-19 in the Cayman Islands have been published on the government gazette confirming the lifting of post-arrival test requirements for vaccinated travellers. The quarantine period for partially vaccinated, the non-securely verifiable vaccinated, and unvaccinated travellers has also dropped to seven days. Pre-flight tests to travel between Grand […]
Minister hints at imminent return of cruise ships
(CNS): Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan has said the COVID-19 testing regime was presenting major hurdles for the return of visitors, and the “significant policy change” dropping the requirement for vaccinated travellers to do repeated tests will boost the ongoing efforts to increase stay-over tourism.
On-island testing dropped for vaxxed tourists
(CNS): Visitors to the Cayman Islands who are fully and verifiably vaccinated against COVID-19 and arrive with a negative anti-gen test for the SARS-CoV-2 virus will no longer have to take lateral flow test during their stay, in a move government hopes will help attract more guests back to the islands. The change also applies […]
Cayman appears to have passed COVID peak
(CNS): Public Health officials have reported a downward trend in new COVID-19 cases, based on the figures in the situational report released last night reflecting the numbers as of Friday. This data suggests we have passed the infection peak, with just 979 officially reported cases last week, a drop of more than 700 from the […]
Driver critical after single-car crash in Bodden Town
(CNS): A 43-year-old man is in critical condition in hospital after being trapped in a burning vehicle that crashed on Shamrock Road, near Valley Drive in Bodden Town, just before midnight yesterday. The Cayman Islands Fire Service extricated the injured man, who was taken to the Cayman Islands Hospital with a serious head wound and […]
Ministry begins cutting tourism workers’ stipend
(CNS): More than 600 tourism workers are being trimmed from the list of about 3,000 original recipients of the government’s monthly CI$1,500 stipend, which was created to help them survive after Cayman closed its borders to visitors almost two years ago. But many of those who have returned to work are still receiving only a […]
CIG presses on with scaled-down costly Dubai Expo
(CNS): Government has continued with a scaled-back involvement in the Dubai Expo 2020, which the auditor general found had cost the Cayman Islands around $2.5 million, most of which was not approved via the proper channels. The exhibition started in October last year and will last until the end of March but Cayman only began […]
