COVID-19 Containment Measures Extended to Feb. 10

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, says the current coronavirus (COVID-19) containment measures have been extended for a further two weeks until February 10, 2022.

Mr. Holness made the announcement during the sitting of the House of Representatives on January 25.

“This means that the curfew hours remain from 10:00 p.m. nightly to 5:00 a.m. the following morning, until 5:00 a.m. on February 11, 2022. All the other measures will also remain unchanged,” he said.

The Prime Minister informed that Jamaica recorded 754 new cases of COVID-19 for January 24. To date, the country has recorded 121,436 cases of the virus and 2,609 deaths.

Mr. Holness told the House that while the daily case count has remained very high, “there are indications that it may be starting to come down.”

“The average number of confirmed cases for the last seven days was 921 per day; for the immediate preceding seven days it was 1,402 per day, so we have seen a decline of 34 per cent,” he said.

He noted that the rate of hospitalisation as a proportion of persons infected was much lower than in the third wave.

In addition, he said that the weekly positivity rate in the current fourth wave exceeded the peak in the third wave.

“While the positivity rate remains extremely high at 48 per cent, we are starting to see the line turn downwards, which is an encouraging sign. The daily positivity rate, based on the reports this morning, was 46 per cent,” he said.

Mr. Holness further indicated that the number of COVID-related hospitalisations remains low, compared to the country’s third wave.

“While the number of new cases remains extremely high, we are starting to see some encouraging signs with a number of the indicators starting to show a downward turn,” he noted.

He said, so far, the country is not seeing an increase in the hospitalised persons requiring high-flow nasal oxygen.

Meanwhile, he noted that the results from the genome sequencing tests done locally have confirmed that the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 is in the country.

The Prime Minister pointed out that of the 43 samples tested, 40 or 93 per cent were confirmed to be the omicron variant.

The samples were collected between December 21 and 24, 2021.

“All the indications were that we were experiencing an omicron wave but we now have definitive confirmation of this,” Mr. Holness said.

The Prime Minister said that while the data suggests that the Omicron variant may result in less severe illness than the Delta variant, especially in terms of the need for high-flow nasal oxygen, “this is no time to be complacent or let our guard down”.

“Persons who are unvaccinated remain at high risk, particularly the elderly and those who are immunocompromised or have comorbidities. The population must, therefore, continue to exercise a high degree of caution,” he emphasised.

Mr. Holness said that the Government had anticipated the fourth wave and had started to prepare, in terms of putting in place additional field hospitals and securing oxygen supplies.

The Prime Minister stressed that persons must wear their masks, wash their hands or sanitise, maintain physical distance, strengthen their immune system through proper diet and exercise, and get vaccinated.

“The measures we have in place essentially serve as guard rails. The strategy of the Government was to set the measures in such a way as to allow the return to normalcy, but if there were an extreme unpredicted event that would create concern, the guard rails would still be in place and we would not need to widen them any further,” he said, adding that lockdowns will not be a feature of the measures.

He said the measures aim to ensure Jamaica’s economic recovery and urged Jamaicans to take personal responsibility to protect themselves.

Mr. Holness noted that the Government will continue to monitor the COVID-19 infection rate, hospitalisation and vaccination numbers.

“We can come out of this present spike very quickly if people just do what is required of them under the Disaster Risk Management Act,” he said.