In direct response to a deluge of criticism – particularly on social media over the past week – Prime Minister Andrew Holness has hit back, suggesting he has done substantial speaking out while also doing much work behind the scenes.

“People are saying they don’t hear from me on the pandemic, and I reflected upon it,” Holness said yesterday as he visited the site of a National Water Commission improvement project under way at Spanish Town Road in Kingston.

“I have given all the statements, I have made all the appeals. Very soon, I will be having a press conference on the pandemic.”

READ: ‘From Brogad to Anju’: Jamaicans demote PM Holness on Twitter?

He added: “What the Government has been doing behind the scenes is to refine a new set of measures that will enable the economy to continue but to have the kind of control on movement that will prevent the spread of the disease.”

346 new cases, 4 more deaths

The prime minister’s comments come as Jamaicans question his visibility during what data has revealed to be the second-worst recent spike in COVID-19 cases seen by any country, with a population of more than one million people, in the world.

Just over the past 24 hours, the naton recorded another 346 confirmed cases and four more deaths, bringing the overall tally to 22,817 cases and 417 dead.

In the meantime, noting that he recognised Jamaicans were getting fatigued by the control of movement and other measures implemented to limit the spread of COVID-19, over at least the past nine months, Holness warned that the country was not yet near the end of the fight.

“Greater effort has to be made in resetting the minds of the people. People are hearing vacccines are coming. They are seeing numbers going down in the United States and they have been living with COVID now for over nine months,” he said.

“They feel it is soon coming to an end. It is not the case. I think that we would have another nine months, literally, with this, even when the vaccines kick in. The best solution obviously is to get every single Jamaican to follow the protocols.”

With that in mind, the prime minister indicated that in addition to the need for citizens to take personal responsibility, the Government would also be announcing the new actions it will taking at his soon-to-be-held press conference.