KINGSTON, Jamaica— Prime Minister Andrew Holness has announced revised, tight COVID-19 restrictions as the number of new cases of the virus continue to spike.

As of Wednesday August 11, the curfew will begin at 7:00 pm and end at 5:00 am the next day from Monday to Friday. On Saturdays the curfew will begin at 6:00 pm until 5:00 am the following day and on Sundays the curfew begins at 2:00 pm and ends at 5:00 am the next day.

The updated measures will remain in effect for three weeks until August 31, the prime minister said.

Speaking at a press conference a short while ago, Holness said that the government placed a lot of thought into the appropriate measures in order to keep the nation safe.

”We placed and developed a strategy and that strategy was we saw the raising public pressure, we saw the fatigue and tension in the society, that was under the serious imposition from February this year going into June. We heard the cries and complaints of the businesses and just general citizens who felt that the restrictions were having a psychological effect on the business and livelihood,” he said.

Holness said that for the first eight days of August, Jamaica recorded 1,903 new cases of COVID-19, averaging 238 cases a day.