Non-Government Organisations Salvation Army, Food For the Poor and Red Cross have been drafted into the system to enable the government to adequately deal with the quarantined residents of Seven Mile and Eight Mile areas of Bull Bay in St Andrew.

Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton—who was speaking on Tuesday at a daily press briefing on the coronavirus—said the assistance from the NGOs would be in addition to services being offered by different government ministries and agencies.

According to Tufton, the NGO will provide support services

to persons, who have been quarantined since Friday.

The decision was taken to seal off the area, after the

island’s first coronavirus case was discovered there. The Jamaican women had

returned from England to attend a family funeral and had interacted with the

residents.

Meanwhile, Tufton said that the National Health Fund’s

Mobile Unit would be mobilised in the area to provide the residents with the

necessary drugs that they need.

He said that 11 checkpoints would be established in the

community for drop-offs of prescriptions, which can also be done at the medical

posts, which will have doctors available on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays

between 8:00 am and 4:00 pm.