PORT ANTONIO, Portland — The Portland marine police and the Jamaica Defence Force Coast Guard have been kept busy since Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced the closure of the country’s air and sea ports to incoming passenger traffic last Friday, as they seek to keep the West Harbour (Errol Flynn Marina) here free of visitors.

The prime minister made the announcement in a slew of measures to limit the spread of COVID-19, and, since then, six vessels have entered the harbour. In fact, there are currently three yachts in West Harbour, however, no one has been allowed to disembark.

Three other yachts — May Flower, Risky Business and Ismini — had come in on Tuesday, but, through coordinated efforts by the marine police and the coast guard, those vessels were escorted out of the habour before midday that same day.

The three vessels still in the harbour are named Freedom, Amante and Mushu.

Freedom, which has an Italian man onboard, was reportedly denied landing at Santiago de Cuba and came to Jamaica.

Amante, which has three Dutch nationals aboard, came in from Cuba, while Mushu, which has six people onboard — three Russians, two Ukrainians and an American — came in from Dominica.

They all reportedly said they came into harbour in Portland because they were having problems landing elsewhere as well as experiencing problems with their vessels. They are all docked out in the open harbour.

Customs and immigration has been informed about their presence in Jamaican waters.

Up to Tuesday, Jamaica had recorded 25 confirmed cases of the the infectious disease, 17 of the which are imported, while seven are import-related. The other case is still under investigation.