THE CARIFTA Games are off until further notice because of the growing threat of the Covid-19 outbreak.
The Games were set to take place at the Bermuda National Sports Centre from Friday 10th to Monday 13th April 2020 but, with the virus having more than 138,500 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 5,000 deaths worldwide; a decision has been made after advice from the World Health Organisation (WHO).
“This has been a very long week with many twists and turns, but we feel we have come to the right decision for everyone involved in these games,” said Donna Raynor, the chairwoman of the CARIFTA local organizing committee at a joint press conference on Friday morning with sports minister Lovitta Foggo.
“We do not want to take the opportunity away from athletes that have trained hard for these games. This is a yearly event etched deep in the history of Bermuda and the Caribbean countries.
“We would never have predicted an occurrence of this nature a week ago. We were deep in preparations and were ready to host the CARIFTA Games, and ready to welcome the 27 countries to our shores.
“The main thing we didn’t want to do was cancel, so our intention is that sometime this year we will host the CARIFTA Games.
“We are not trying to anticipate any dates as yet; we are waiting to see what happens with this Covid-19. Once it seems all is clear, we will sit down and work out a date in conjunction with the other Caribbean countries.
The sports minister fully supported the decision.
“Obviously, we are disappointed at these developments and the postponement of the CARIFTA Games, but we certainly understand,” she said.
“These are unprecedented times but the health, safety and wellbeing of all of our young people in all of our regions is our first priority.”