St. Ann And Manchester On MOH COVID-19 Radar

Health Minister, Dr. Christopher Tufton says two parishes, St. Ann and Manchester are now on the Ministry’s COVID-19 radar.

This comes as the Health Ministry continues to implement rigid measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 in Westmoreland,

Additionally, Dr. Tufton says contact tracing and testing are ongoing in those parishes.

To add, the Minister says through the Covax facility, vaccine dosages have been reduced from 35 dollars per dose to approximately $10 and 55 cents.

The first set of vaccines are expected in April.

Approximately 440, 000 Jamaicans are expected to be  given vaccination priority.

Meanwhile, Canada and the United Kingdom are requesting negative PCR COVID-19 results from their citizens before they allowed to re-enter the countries.

The Health Minister says the imposition has significantly disrupted the travel market.

He says the Ministry will be partnering with other stakeholders to deal with the fresh challenges by the edict in testing locally.  

In the meantime, Dr. Tufton says the Ministry has approved eight private laboratories for antigen testing and one private laboratory for PCR testing.

This, he says is to strengthen the level of testing within the country.

Christeen Forbes reports for CVM Live: