 On Thursday, January 30th, 2020, during the second meeting of the emergency committee convened by the World Health Organization, Director-General, under the international health regulations, regarding the outbreak of the coronavirus COVID-19 in the People's Republic of China, the committee agreed that the outbreak now meets the criteria for a public health emergency of international concern. The World Health Organization indicated that further international exportation of cases is expected and advised all countries to ensure preparation for containment, which includes prevention measures, active surveillance, early detection, isolation, case management and contact tracing. In an effort to restrict the likelihood of the introduction of COVID-19 into St. Lucian population, the Department of Health and Wellness on February 14th, 2020 put in place travel restrictions on non-nationals from mainland China with a travel history within the last 14 days from mainland China. The Department of Health and Wellness has noted the escalation in the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 internationally, as well as the spread to 29 countries outside of China, including 23 deaths. As a result, the Department of Health and Wellness imposes an extension of the travel restrictions to Hong Kong, Republic of Korea, Japan, Italy and Singapore as of Wednesday February 26th at 12 a.m. Any returning national to St. Lucia with a travel history to any countries mentioned above will be quarantined for a period of 14 days. The Department of Health and Wellness also discouraged all non-essential travel to the places listed above. The government of St. Lucia commends the Chinese government in the efforts to manage and contain the outbreak and will continue working to strengthen our local capacities against this global threat.