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KINGSTON, Jamaica, May 22, 2020 (CMC) – The Ministry of Health reported, on Wednesday, that nine more persons have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the number of confirmed cases, across the island, to 529.
This was disclosed by Health Minister, Dr. Christopher Tufton, who said the new cases include six males, recently repatriated from the United Kingdom; one from the Alorica call centre in the central parish of St Catherine; one male contact of the St. Catherine cluster; and one male from the Corporate Area, whose case is under investigation.
He said of the over 120 individuals, who have come in from the UK, 12 cruise members have tested positive.
So far, 26 percent of returning cruise ship workers have tested positive for the virus.
The Health Minister added that 26 more patients have recovered from the virus, and there are currently no COVID-19 patients in intensive care units on the island, despite the number of positive cases.
Meanwhile, the government intends to enhance its monitoring of individuals, under home quarantine, with technological devices that can be affixed to the body.
Tufton, who was speaking a press conference, on Wednesday, said although not yet available, the device is a more secure arrangement than current plans, to use the JamCOVID19 smartphone app, for monitoring.
The government announced the use of the app for the monitoring of people in home quarantine, as part of requirements for Jamaican cruise ship workers to disembark the Royal Caribbean Adventure of the Seas cruise ship, which arrived in the northern parish of Trelawny, on Tuesday.
According to Tufton, those, who test positive for the virus, will be taken to a State quarantine facility, and crew members with negative results will be allowed to self-quarantine at home for 14 days from the day they disembark the vessel.
For home quarantine, individuals will be required to consent to have their location geo-fenced, via the JamCOVID19 platform and to do video check-in, multiple times daily.
