Ministry of Health & Wellness Intranet

The number of confirmed cases of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Jamaica has risen to 233 over the last 24 hours.

The 10 new additions are comprised of five employees of the Ministry of Health and Wellness who are contacts of a confirmed case; three who form a part of the workplace cluster in St Catherine and two who are under investigation.

Concerning the Ministry employees who have tested positive, contact tracing is being done to determine their level of exposure to other team members. They will be monitored by the health team and provided with the necessary support during this period. 

 

Still, their test results have caused significant anxiety, prompting the Ministry to initiate steps to calm the fears of all staff. Those steps include making available counselling services for those who need them.

 

In addition, members of the team are now on home quarantine for 14 days while others have been asked to work from home based on the risk assessment done.

 

The Ministry has also conducted an intense cleaning exercise for all its offices and completed the cleaning of the Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) to ensure that it remains functional. 

 

Further, staff in the EOC have been staggered to ensure greater levels of physical distancing.

 

Jamaica now has:

· 34 imported cases;

· 8 that are local transmission with no epidemiological link;

· 52 that are contacts of a confirmed case; and

· 139 under investigation. This 139 are comprised of 124 cases that are within a workplace cluster and 15 others.

 

So far, 1,936 samples have been tested:

· 233 are positive, including six Ministry of Health and Wellness employees;

· 1,695 are negative; and

· 8 are pending.

 

There are 184 persons in isolation and 24 in quarantine in a Government facility. Six people have died while 27 have recovered.

 

The Ministry is committed to the fight to contain the spread of COVID-19 and will make every effort to support the team whose members have been working diligently to ensure the health and safety of the entire island.