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COVID-19 | Jamaica declared disaster area, restriction now on travel from United Kingdom

Published:Friday | March 13, 2020 | 12:00 AM
Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie at a COVID-19 press conference at the Office of the Prime Minister - Ricardo Makyn photo

Prime Minister Andrew Holness has declared all of Jamaica a disaster area amid the Coronavirus.  

At the same time, he has announced a travel ban on the United Kingdom the source country for Jamaica's first imported case.

There are now eight cases of the virus here.

Holness made the announcements at a press conference at Jamaica House a short while ago.

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​The declaration of Jamaica as a disaster area empowers the government to take certain actions.

Already, the Seven and Eight Miles communities of Bull Bay, St Andrew have been declared a quarantine area.

Police and soldiers have been deployed there to restrict movements in an out of the communities.

And attorney general Marlene Malahoo Forte says under the declaration, the authorities will not require a warrant to enter premises.

The declaration also allows for people to be prosecuted if they make false declarations to health authorities.

Meanwhile, with the imposition of a travel restriction on the United Kingdom, only Jamaicans and certain exempted persons will be landed.

However, landed persons will be quarantined either in a facility or at home.

#COVID-19 isolation hospitals:
*Mandeville Regional 
*St Ann's Bay
*Cornwall Regional
*National Chest Hospital
*University Hospital of the West Indies

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