KINGSTON, Jamaica — A traveller who returned to the United Kingdom after a short stay in Jamaica has tested positive for the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

The announcement was made by Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Chrsitopher Tufton during Wednesday’s COVID Conversations.

This means that the variant is present in the country.

“We have been advised through the UK’s international health regulations system that a traveller to Jamaica has returned a positive test result for COVID-19 and the genomic sequencing confirms Omicron as the variant for this result,” Tufton said.

“This is a traveller who came here on a short stay in one of our resort facilities and went back and was confirmed for COVID and confirmed for the Omicron variant,” he explained.

The minister added that: “There are several conclusions that can be drawn from this to include the fact that persons may have been infected by others within the population and/or this particular individual could have interacted sufficiently while here to infect or contaminate others. In other words, I think it is best from a planning, from a precautionary perspective to conclude that Omicron is here within our population.”