TORTOLA, British Virgin Islands (CMC) — A reported surge in cases of COVID-19 found in passengers travelling through the Road Town Ferry Dock, is being examined by health officials here.

According to National Epidemiologist, Harmony Massiah, several cases are coming through the Road Town Ferry Dock “and we are conducting investigations to determine if they are ay predictive factors that might be increase in the risk of persons coming in through that area”.

Massiah, who was speaking during a recent press conference, said that there had been a surge in the number of reported cases in the territory around May 15, and this was predominantly through cases that have been imported.

She added that the factors that caused the surge can be from any number of sources, such as places of travel origin, passengers premixing before boarding, and travelling in an enclosed space, among other things.

The epidemiologist implored people to maintain due diligence as a measure of mitigating the spread of the virus by wearing masks and social distancing.

“Even though you might be familiar with someone on the vessel, you should limit any talk or conversations you may have with them because you don’t exactly know what it is they may be harbouring,” she encouraged.

Meanwhile, ferry operators have been asked to adopt an additional measure to help with contact tracing.

Massiah said operators have been asked to ensure the seats are numbered so people can be easily contacted if they had been sitting near a person who is found to have been carrying the virus.

“We will treat it kind of like what we do with an aeroplane — two to three seats in front, two to three seats behind and at the sides,” she said while responding to a question on whether all ferry passengers must isolate if one tests positive.

Individuals are also expected to indicate if they had spoken to anyone who is not in the bubble surrounding their immediate seating vicinity on the ferry so that they can also be quarantined.