Jamaica tightens curfew measures amid COVID-19 spike
The Government of Jamaica has announced stricter curfew measures amid its COVID-19 spike.
The new measures will see the islandwide curfew move from 11:00 pm to 9:00 pm and end 5:00 am daily, effective Thursday, August 27. The new curfew measure will run until September 30, said Prime Minister Andrew Holness during a press conference a short while ago.
The measures will not be immediately applied to the parishes of St Thomas, Clarendon, Kingston, St Andrew and St Catherine which have a 7:00 pm to 5:00 am curfew that ends September 2. When that curfew period ends, the islandwide curfew will be applied to those parishes.
Additionally, Holness said effective Thursday, August 27, persons in the Corporate Area will be required to remain on their premises outside of curfew hours. That means citizens are not expected to be in public spaces, without reason.
The list of communities affected will be
released tomorrow.
“The virus cannot move unless we move. The measures we are putting in place are to limit unnecessary movement and discouraging persons from interacting with others who are not a part of your immediate houses,” Holness said.
Jamaica recorded another 83 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, pushing the tally to 1,612 cases.
Of the total cases, 53 are currently hospitalised.