KINGSTON, Jamaica— Prime Minister Andrew Holness is scheduled to address the nation at 5:00 pm  today on the spike in COVID-19 cases.

Jamaica recorded 446 cases of COVID-19 yesterday and five additional deaths bringing the total number of cases to 23,263 and the death toll to 422.

Holness hinted at changes coming for the island in a series of tweets yesterday.

“The Disaster Risk Management Act is a very useful tool for managing these kinds of emergency situations. We have sought to address the pandemic by appealing to the good conscience and reasonableness of our citizens,” the Prime Minister said.

“Whilst we will continue our advertising campaign, and continue to appeal to the good sense and responsibleness of our citizens, we will now have to move into another phase of managing the pandemic,” he added.

Meanwhile, Indian High Commissioner to Jamaica Masakui Rungsung said the country will receive 50,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines from India some time next week.