Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, says Jamaica’s business process outsourcing (BPO) industry has recorded a 15 per cent increase in employment, despite the economic fallout resulting from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.  Speaking during the opening of the IBEX BPO facility at the G-Tech Park in Portmore, St. Catherine on Friday (July 23), Mr. Holness said approximately 44,000 persons were employed across the sector as at June 2021, relative to 38,400 for the corresponding period last year.     ...

Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, is urging persons who have been vaccinated against the coronavirus (COVID-19) to maintain strict adherence to the stipulated protocols and safeguards.  He says while inoculation will help in reducing the possibility of serious illness, it does not guarantee that individuals won’t contract the disease.     “There are [approximately] 300,000 Jamaicans who have had at least one [COVID-19 vaccine] dose. [But] the fact that you are [among that group] does not mean that...

The Ministry of Health and Wellness is expressing concern that the n-coronavirus (COVID-19) positivity rate in Jamaica has been increasing over recent weeks. The positivity rate refers to the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases from samples tested. Portfolio Minister, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, said that recently there has been an uptick in the daily positivity rate, noting that up...

United States (US) Congresswoman, Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, says that the Biden Administration is working through logistical and legal matters to begin distributing vaccines to Jamaica and other CARICOM countries.  Congresswoman Jackson Lee, who was addressing a virtual town hall hosted by Jamaica’s Ambassador to the US, Audrey Marks, on Thursday (July 22), said that the discussions are being handled with urgency to have “those vaccines flown to Jamaica”.   She noted that half a million doses of vaccines have been...

  NEW CASES 24 HRS OVERALL   NOTES Confirmed Cases 144 51,686   SEX CLASSIFICATION       Females 83 28,939   Males 61 22,744   Under Investigation 0 3   AGE RANGE 4 days to 86 years 1 day to 108 years   PARISH CLASSIFICATION OF NEW CASES       Clarendon 3 2,766   Hanover 9 1,449  ...

Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Director, Dr. Carissa Etienne, says the COVID-19 Genomic Surveillance Regional Network has been instrumental in tracking the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) across the Americas. She noted that the network has, so far, detected at least one of the four current variants of concern - Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta – in 47 regional countries,...

The genome sequencer that is being acquired by government to enhance the country’s capacity to test for variant strains of the n-coronavirus locally, should be on the island shortly. The equipment is being acquired because of the length of time it takes for Jamaica to receive the results from test samples sent overseas, to determine the various variants of the n-coronavirus that may be present on...