MANCHESTER, Jamaica— MegaMart, the largest supermarket here, is taking no chances with the novel Coronavirus. 

The sprawling establishment located on the parish capital’s southern outskirts has instituted a thermal temperature check at the inner entrance to the shopping area.

Each person entering is asked by private security personnel,  one with a hand-held scanner, to submit to a temperature check. A refusal, one if the guards explained, means a bar to entry and if the temperature goes up to 100 degrees farenheit entry will also be denied.

This comes in the wake of Friday night’s press conference in which Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced new measures to prevent the community spread of the virus, which has been classified as a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation.

Friday’s announcement that the cases locally have risen to eight precipitated the quarantine of the 8 and 9 Miles Bull Bay communities on the border between Kingston and St Thomas where the first positive case, a visitor from the UK- referred to as patient zero, was known to have interacted with community members. 

The security forces have been deployed to that area to enforce the lock-down. 

Jonathan Morrison