JAMAICA has recorded its first patient recovery as officials fight to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton has said.

The patient, who was referred to as patient five, is from St Ann. The patient was discharged from hospital last evening having registered two negative tests within 48 hours, after becoming asymptomatic.

The disclosure was made during a virtual press conference yesterday, during which Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced new measures to limit the spread of the infectious disease.

“The ministry is pleased to advise, too, that one of the patients — patient five from St Ann who tested positive for COVID-19 — has now recovered and has been released from hospital. So I think we can celebrate our first fully recovered COVID-19 case,” the minister said last evening.

“I want to also say on this point, that it is very important that the population accepts that COVID-19 is a risk, is a disease, and a disease that can be treated. And those persons who have been unfortunate enough to have been affected, once they return to their community with the certification by the medical team that they are now well, that they should be incorporated, reintegrated, and not treated, in any way, shape or form, in a discriminatory manner,” he continued.

The patient who had a travel history from New York on March 10, 2020, was isolated at St Ann’s Bay Hospital on March 17.

According to the World Health Organization, 80 per cent of people with COVID-19 recover without needing hospital treatment.