KINGSTON, Jamaica— The Government is moving to acquire critical pieces of equipment that will allow the country to conduct tests for the presence of COVID-19 variant strains in the island.

Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Christopher Tufton, made the disclosure at a virtual press conference on March 8.

He confirmed the presence of the United Kingdom (UK) variant of the virus in the island, following the testing of samples by the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA).

Tufton said that of the samples sent to CARPHA, seven were confirmed positive for the UK variant.  

The seven positive samples, which were taken from persons with no travel history, came from St Catherine, St James, Clarendon, Kingston and St Andrew and Trelawny.

Tufton said the samples of confirmed COVID-19 positive cases were randomly selected in January and the results were received on March 6.

“The issues around the variant strain are concerning. It has taken us some time to get the results of these tests because we don’t do the test here in Jamaica, so we are moving to ensure that we have the necessary equipment to allow us the capacity to test for that variant strain,” he noted.

He said it will cost approximately $60 million to acquire the equipment, which will be lodged at the public health laboratory.

The minister said that arrangements are also being made to test local samples for the variant strain of the virus in the United States.

Meanwhile, the minister is urging Jamaicans to adhere to the protocols in order to minimise the spread of the virus.

 “The presence of the variant strain really requires the very same response as is the case with the presence of the regular strain in the population, starting with observing the protocols; that’s absolutely critical.

“So we just have to continue to follow the procedures and protocols and we will, if we are diligent to those protocols, benefit from controlling and overcoming both strains that are in the population based on the tests that have been done,” he pointed out.

Tufton assured that the vaccine that the country has received “is in fact effective with dealing with the variant strain”.

Jamaica, on Monday received its first shipment of 50,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines from India.

CARPHA is the regional public health agency, headquartered in Trinidad and Tobago, which was established by Caricom member states in July 2011 and began operation in 2013.