KINGSTON, Jamaica – Of the 3,084 respondents to a recent OBSERVER ONLINE poll, 80 per cent believe that the Ministry of Health was not wrong to ask women to delay pregnancy.

The Ministry of Health on January 18 urged Jamaican women to delay pregnancy for the next six to 12 months given the possible connection between the Zika virus infection and the neurological condition, microcephaly.

Microcephaly results in the underdevelopment of and abnormality in the shape of the head and brain of the foetus. It has been reported that babies who develop microcephaly in the womb may not live to full term, may be born prematurely, may be still-born or may survive but with a life-long disability.

Recently, Greater Portmore recorded the first case of the Zika virus in Jamaica, according to the Ministry of Health.

It was disclosed on Saturday, January 30, that a four-year-old child from the community had tested positive for the virus.

The ministry has not yet determined if the virus was contracted locally, but the boy fell ill shortly after returning from Texas in the United States.