MANCHESTER, Jamaica – Mayor of Mandeville Brenda Ramsay has added her voice to calls for the necessary precautions to be taken against a possible Zika Virus (ZIKV) outbreak in Jamaica.

“ZIKV… is not a matter of if, but a matter of when we will be impacted by this virus,” she told this month’s meeting of the Manchester Parish Council.

Ramsay said that the number of people who were affected by the Chikungunya Virus (CHIK V) is a lesson of the extent of the negative effects, and it is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that the environment is safe in order to prevent a similar occurrence.

 “I am appealing to residents to ensure that you are doing the checks and to do the things that have been, time and again, enunciated to ensure that we do not harbour (mosquito) breeding sites,” said Mayor Ramsay.

She added: “At the Council we are working with the Ministry of Health. We have embarked on training of individuals who are out in the field.”

Ramsay said that the work that is being done include the detection of sources and passing on of information.

She urged the councillors to make certain that in their various divisions they play an active role in the preparation.

Ramsay reiterated the message for pregnant women and women who may become pregnant during this period to be especially vigilant as the feotus can be adversely affected.

“It’s a partnership. Let us not say if we had (known) and then to (lay) blame on everybody else but ourselves,” she said.

Alicia Sutherland