Home / International News / Jamaica Records 16 Cases Of COVID-19; Including First Death
Jamaica Records 16 Cases Of COVID-19; Including First Death

Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. Christopher Tufton (right), addresses the media at a press conference at Jamaica House, on Tuesday. With the Minister is Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dunstan Bryan. Photo credit: Donald De La Haye/JIS.

Jamaica Records 16 Cases Of COVID-19; Including First Death

KINGSTON, Jamaica, March 20, 2020 (CMC) – Jamaica now has 16 confirmed cases of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

The latest case is a 57-year-old male, with a travel history to New York. He arrived in the island on March 10, and visited his private physician on March 16. He reported having had symptoms for six days.

The necessary contact-tracing is now being done.

Meanwhile, Jamaica reported its first COVID-19-related death on Wednesday. The deceased is a 79-year-old man, who died at about 3:00 pm (local time) at the isolation facility at the Mandeville Regional Hospital, in the neighbouring parish of Manchester, after his condition started to deteriorate.

It’s reported that the man, who had diabetes and was also hypertensive, was being prepared to be transferred to the University of the West Indies Hospital in the Corporate Area, for intensive care, when he died.

The man, who recently visited New York, went to the Lionel Town Hospital in Clarendon, with symptoms on Monday, and he tested positive on Wednesday.

Members of the public are reminded to take the following steps, as part of efforts to stay safe:
> Stay home if you are ill and having fever and/or respiratory symptoms.
> Maintain a distance, of at least one metre, from other persons.
> Frequently perform hand hygiene, by washing hands, thoroughly, with soap and water, or using a hand sanitizer if hands are not visibly soiled.
> Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue, when coughing or sneezing, and then discarding it.
> And resist the habit to touch your face.

Further, public gatherings and non-essential travel are discouraged.

For more information, contact the Ministry of Health and Wellness at the COVID-19 lines: 888-754-7792 and 888-ONE-LOVE (663-5683). Additional numbers to call are 876-542-5998, 876-542-6007 and 876-542-6006.

Information and updates on COVID-19 can also be found at the Ministry’s website at www.moh.gov.jm and social media platforms @themohwgovjm. Members of the public may also email covid19@moh.gov.jm or jacovid19facts@gmail.com.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Scroll To Top