Special Curfew Could Be Lifted in Rae Town Soon
By: , November 5, 2020
Photo: Mark Bell
Health and Wellness Minister, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton (left); and Member of Parliament for Central Kingston, Donovan Williams, with a team of Community Health Aides during a tour of the Rae Town community in Kingston, on Wednesday (November 4). The Minister, along with the health team, observed surveillance activities in the area and distributed masks.
Photo: Mark Bell
Health and Wellness Minister, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton (right), greets young residents of the Rae Town community in Kingston, on Wednesday (November 4), during a tour of the area. The Minister also distributed masks to the residents.The Full Story
Health and Wellness Minister, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, says consideration is being given to lifting the 14-day special area curfew, which was placed on the community of Rae Town in St. Andrew, when the Order expires on November 6.
“This community can be deemed a relatively safe space from the virus, so it is likely that we will discontinue the quarantine measures when it expires this week. That is a function of further deliberations,” he said.
The Minister was addressing members of the media during a tour of the community on Wednesday (November 4).
“We have done [more than] 120 test samples for the coronavirus (COVID-19) and I am happy to report that all of them are negative…The [presence of the virus in the community] based on the sampling of cases is not as bad as we may have anticipated. It is, therefore, likely to lead to the discontinuation of the measures,” he said.
The curfew Order became effective on October 23.
Dr. Tufton said the intervention was necessary when 21 COVID-19-positive cases were detected in the community.
The Minister again urged citizens to continue to observe the safety protocols – frequent sanitisation, wearing of masks and physical distancing.
He also commended the Community Health Aide (CHA) teams that work with residents of the affected communities for their invaluable contribution to the Government’s COVID-19 containment efforts.
Member of Parliament, Central Kingston, Donovan Williams, who also toured the community, implored residents not to be complacent.
“We still need to adhere to all the protocols, so we can keep the positive rates down”, he said.
Acting Senior Medical Officer of Health, Susan Strachan-Johnson, said the health team will continue working with residents of the community.
“We have been working along with the community members, conducting sampling and providing health education. We have also trained key informants in the community, so that they can spread the message to other persons, and we will continue working with them to make sure that we keep the number of positive cases down,” she said.