As the coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to spread, forcing international travel restrictions, there are concerns that screening of incoming passengers from private/charter flights at Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA) in Kingston needs more dedicated attention.

A source at the airport, one of the two major gateways into the island, told the Jamaica Observer on Monday that “there’s no screening of passengers coming into the general aviation section”.

He explained that generally screening services are provided by a public health nurse from the main terminal, but sometimes there is a long wait for passengers on private flights.

“Usually, a public nurse would have to come and sign off on passengers coming from countries where there was yellow fever outbreak before immigration lands them. Sometimes we call over there and have to wait for an hour before a nurse comes over because they’re busy at the main terminal where the passenger load is heavy,” the source said.

Furthermore, the source claimed, there are no protective measures being undertaken at the general aviation terminal, and that the matter was raised at a meeting with the Airports Authority of Jamaica regarding coronavirus concerns.

According to the source, the number of flights coming into the general aviation terminal vary each day. “On Sunday, for instance, at least 10 flights came in. InterCaribbean Airways, which is based in the Turks and Caicos Islands and services Dominican Republic, has at least three flights a day and its passengers go through the general aviation section… transit passengers come through our section as well,” the source explained.

Noting that the immigration card requires passengers to state the countries they have visited in the past six weeks, the source claimed that only the last immigration officer on duty on Sunday had asked passengers for their travel history.

When the Observer contacted PAC Kingston Airport Limited (PACKAL), the local subsidiary of Mexican company Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico (GAP), which took over management of NMIA under a 25-year concession agreement last October, the company made it clear that the health ministry is fully responsible for all health-related concerns, and that the airport facilitates those activities.

Nevertheless, PACKAL said it has instituted a number of awareness and protection measures at the airport. It said this includes strategic placement of informational banners on the virus in the main terminal and general aviation areas, as well as automated hand sanitisation stations.

“As good hygiene is an effective strategy for protecting oneself, the airport has ordered 25 touch-free hand sanitiser dispensers to allow passengers and staff within the main terminal and general aviation areas of the airport to sanitise their hands. We have also distributed bottled hand sanitisers within the company for our employees’ use,” PACKAL told the Observer yesterday.

The concerns were put to chief medical officer in the Ministry of Health and Wellness Dr Jacquiline Bisasor-McKenzie, who acknowledged that a nurse is not stationary at the private flight desk, but that so far there have been no challenges, as a check and balance system is in place.

She pointed out that the first point of contact is immigration, which usually issues a notification if there is an incoming passenger of concern.

“If immigration gets the information and recognises that there are people of interest they inform the health team and then the team becomes involved,” she said.

Dr Bisasor-McKenzie emphasised that this process applies to all other airports and airstrips. “I will certainly check on it to see if there is a problem [but] this is how we have operated with regard to all public health matters of interest, not just coronavirus. Remember, we have persons coming in from areas where there is yellow fever or malaria, for example. We also have another way to catch those persons — all immigration forms are reviewed by port health staff and we would know if we have a problem if we are missing persons’ [information],” she outlined.

Last Thursday the Ministry of Health and Wellness imposed travel restrictions on Singapore, Iran, South Korea, and Italy due to increasing cases of inter-country cases of the COVID-19.