With the island about to enter a new 21-day regime of tightened COVID-19 restrictions, given rising infection rates heralding a third wave, Prime Minister Andrew Holness is signalling that Jamaicans might find themselves under at least a one day per week lockdown if the cases show no signs of slowing.

“We have not yet implemented a no-movement day; a no-movement day, however, is possible,” the prime minister said, warning that this could probably come within another two weeks if there are no improvements in the situation with the virus in the country.

“I am saying to Jamaicans to be in an expectant mode that even tighter measures could follow depending on the numbers we are seeing,” he declared.

At the same time, while imploring the populace to embrace the Government’s drive to vaccinate 65 per cent of the population in order to achieve herd immunity, Holness said there were no plans to force Jamaicans to accept the jabs.

“The Government is not thinking about or inclined to mandate any vaccine… our first goal is to have the vaccine widely available,” the prime minister stated.

For this past Sunday alone, the Ministry of Health reported 281 new cases, bringing the total confirmed cases in the island to 55,140 since the start of the pandemic last year March. At the same time, there were nine deaths, pushing the total fatalities from the virus to 1,231. The positivity rate (the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases from all samples tested) was at an alarming 30.3 per cent.

Addressing the nation during a press briefing last night, Holness said the island’s daily hospital admissions are now at the same level as in March/April this year when the country experienced a second wave of the virus, imperilling plans by the Administration to reopen schools for face-to-face learning come September.

“We now have approximately 500 of the 700 beds allocated islandwide for COVID occupied and a number of our large hospitals are overcapacity. We are in the exponential increase zone, meaning we will have a rapid increase in numbers which is primarily due to how each citizen is conducting themself and how infected persons are conducting themselves. Clearly there is a lot of movement by infected persons not observing the curfew hours, not observing the gathering limits,” the prime minister said.

“We are seeing a sharp increase in the number of new cases as well as hospitalisations. In June we recorded 1,572 new cases averaging 52 new cases per day. In July we recorded 3,071 new cases. For July 1-13 we maintained the average of 52 cases per day and for July 14 to 31 the average increased to 135 cases per day,” the prime minister outlined.

He said already for the first eight days of August, officials have recorded over 1,903 new cases.

“We are currently averaging 238 cases per day, which is nearly five times the daily number of cases up to July 13,” he pointed out.

He said it was clear that the Government’s warnings in July of even tighter measures if people failed to comply will become a reality if the current three weeks of tightened measures bring no respite.

“The strategy of the Government is to gradually ease in the tighter measures. We have analysed how we have implemented measures in the past and we would have heard the concerns and criticisms of stakeholders. They have said the implementation of tighter measures steeply have caused congestion and panic, so we have made the adjustments gradual,” he said in explaining the revised measures .

As it stands, effective tomorrow the island’s curfew hours have been adjusted and will now run from 7:00 pm on weekdays to 5:00 am the following day. On Saturdays the curfew will begin at 6:00 pm and end 5:00 am the following day, while on Sundays the curfew hours will run from 2:00 pm to 5:00 am the following day.

Beaches which are not under management or control are to be closed, while beaches that remain open will operate under the existing protocols and be subject to tighter operating hours, meaning Mondays to Saturdays 6:00 am to 4:00 pm and Sundays 6:00 am to 1:00 pm.

In the meantime, rivers will be restricted to use only for domestic purposes and river rafting. The operating hours will be the same as for beaches.

Churches will be restricted to having no more than 50 people in physical attendance, including clergy and support personnel. This number is still subject to the physical distancing rules. In addition, no crusades, conferences, or conventions will be permitted.

Nightclubs and places of amusement, such as clubs and discotheques, are to be closed, while small and large events such as concerts and parties are strictly forbidden.

No more than 50 people will be permitted to physically attend weddings, while the limit of 30 people present remains in place for funeral services and burials. This includes mourners as well as clergy and any support personnel.

In the meantime, the list of countries from which travel to Jamaica is not allowed remains the same, namely, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, India, Paraguay, Peru, and Trinidad and Tobago.