Health Ministry acknowledges contact tracing falling ‘below standard’ amid COVID-19 outbreak
Gavin Riley / Our Today
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Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Dunstan Bryan, has admitted a challenge in contact tracing mechanisms, as Jamaica sees a worrying spike in novel coronavirus (COVID-19) cases.
Bryan, reacting to questions from the media during Wednesday’s post-Cabinet press conference, said while contact tracing remains a critical tool in the government’s national response, there have been shortfalls in maintaining a standard.
“Given the spike in the number of cases, the ability of the public health systems within the standard of 48 hours after receiving the test result—that has become difficult to maintain,” he said.
“However, we are ensuring that all persons receive their results in the shortest period of time and once that result has been identified, we continue to do contact tracing,” Bryan added.
The senior ministry official insisted that as the government tries to rectify the shortfalls, Jamaicans need to take the pandemic more seriously by following and adhering to the COVID-prevention protocols of sanitisation, social distancing as well as limiting outdoor interactions if one exhibits flu-like symptoms.
“What is most important for the public to understand is that we have been in community transmission for some time now, and [the] protocols are critical. The important message, your posture is that everyone is positive, and therefore, you adhere to the protocols in order to protect yourself and [others] who you may come into contact with,” the permanent secretary explained.
“Therefore, you must sanitise, you must wear your mask, you must keep the physical distancing and you must stay home if you have any flu-like illness and then contact the relevant agency to ensure that you get your test and result,” Dunstan noted.
“We [have] to maintain the infection prevention and control measures so that we contain the spread and we ensure that even if we are asymptomatic, the likelihood of infecting another is reduced,” he added.
According to statistics provided by the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Jamaica confirmed 193 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours. The island has 22,019 confirmed cases, 8,292 of which are active.
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