KINGSTON, Jamaica – The quarantine, which was placed on the community of Seven Miles and Eight Miles, Bull Bay, in St Andrew is to be lifted on Saturday, March 28.

The communities were quarantined following the confirmation of the island’s first positive case of COVID-19 in an individual from the community, and other cases linked to contact with that first positive individual.

Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton made the announcement at a press conference at his office, this evening. 

The community of Cornpiece in Clarendon, where the most recent case of COVID-19 was confirmed, remains under quarantine.

Meanwhile, Dr Tufton says 150 samples have been tested, of which 124 have tested negative, and 18 results are currently pending. Seventeen people are under quarantine in government facilities and 142 are in quarantine at home, while 254 have been released from quarantine arrangements.

“These don’t include the quarantining arrangements at Bull Bay and Cornpeice settlement,” he noted. 

He also said the island’s major hospitals are being prepared to deal with increasing numbers, with an isolation capacity for 150, but with capability of accommodating up to 326 people, should the need arise.