Thousands of passengers stranded in airports for not having PCR test

Numerous passengers who arrived yesterday to travel to the United States without having negative PCR and antigen tests against Covid-19 were stranded at the José Francisco Pela Gómez Las Américas airport and at the Ciboa airport when the new restriction measures of the North American authorities went into effect.

The first flight with the new measures was the JetBlue airline with about 100 passengers, left yesterday after 1:00 am from the airport terminal to John F. Kennedy airport, in New York City.

In the early hours yesterday, numerous travelers who intended to take the test at the Amadita clinical laboratory did not have that service available, because it did not start yesterday as scheduled.

Many of the affected passengers took their luggage and left the airport to take the Covid-19 test at some of the laboratories operating in Santo Domingo, although they still would not have time to make the trip.

The passengers who were stranded because they did not have the PCR and Antigen test with them had made reservations on United Airlines and JetBlue flights to New York City.

However, the most significant number of travelers affected by the measure were booked on JetBlue Airways flights.

Regarding the situation of the passengers who were stranded at the terminal, the general director of Aeropuerto Dominicanos XXI (Aerodom), Monika Infante, asked passengers to be responsible and arrive at the airport ready with their proof of travel.

“We ask the passengers to be responsible and to try to get their test done with enough time before going to the airport because here there is no guarantee that they can take the Covid-19 test in the terminal due to a large number of travelers,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Spanish Ministry of Health announced that it will require passengers arriving from the Dominican Republic to take a PRC test with a negative result in order to be able to enter that country.