The Government will be putting a National Coordinating Mechanism in place to monitor and contain the novel coronavirus, in the event of an outbreak. Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, said the Cabinet-sanctioned measure will see a team, to be headed by the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), being established to lead Jamaica’s...

The Government has imposed a travel restriction on all flights to and from China, and Jamaicans are also strongly advised not to travel to that country. Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, in making the announcement, says the travel restriction comes in the wake of the World Health Organisation’s declaration of the  Coronavirus as a global...

Health and Wellness Minister, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, says the country is in a state of readiness for the coronavirus. Following a tour of isolation facilities and equipment at the National Chest Hospital and the Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA) on Thursday (January 30), Dr. Tufton said that the country has what is necessary to guard against the infectious...

Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, says the Government’s decision to issue an advisory against travelling to and from the People’s Republic of China, consequent on the Coronavirus outbreak in that country, is “the right thing to do at this time”. He noted that the nature and impact of the virus and the extent to which...

Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, is encouraging persons who travelled to and from the People’s Republic of China within the last four weeks to make themselves available for assessments, to determine whether they have been exposed to the Coronavirus. “The Ministry has begun a process to track those individuals and we would ask those individuals,...

Cabinet will receive an update today (January 27) on Jamaica’s state of preparedness for the novel coronavirus (nCoV). Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, who made the disclosure, indicated that “when it comes to health threats, the Government is taking no chance, no risk; we are trying to be fully prepared”. He was speaking to journalists prior to the...

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade is today providing an update on the welfare of the Jamaican Community in China in light of concerns raised regarding the spread of the Coronavirus across that country. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator the Hon. Kamina Johnson Smith today advised that the Jamaican Embassy in Beijing has been...

The Ministry of Health and Wellness is on high alert for the coronavirus. Portfolio Minister, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, said that measures are being put in place to detect and combat the virus, which has already affected hundreds of people in sections of China, and other countries around the world. “We have issued a number of releases; we have...