The Southern Regional Health Authority (SRHA) says it is reorganising its workflow and has activated a ‘surge plan’ after 34 staff members, assigned to the Mandeville Regional Hospital, tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in recent days.

The SRHA, an agency of the Ministry of Health and Wellness, in a Thursday (February 11) statement, disclosed since March 2020, 61 members of staff have contracted the disease, however, the recent cluster is cause for concern.

“Two microbiologists and a public health team are currently investigating the circumstances under which 27 members of the operating theatre and High Dependency Unit (HDU) teams contracted the virus,”

Mandeville Regional, the SRHA continued, operates with a complement of 780 staff and from the 61 infected CPVID-19 workers, 27 have since recovered.

CEO of Mandeville Regional, Alwyn Miller explained that preliminary investigations have revealed 10 of the cluster’s active cases are ‘likely to have been contracted outside the hospital’.

As Manchester sees increased cases of the coronavirus, SRHA Regional Director Michael Bent said that Mandeville’s 20-bed the isolation ward is at full capacity. Bent explained, however, that as part of the SRHA’s surge plan, it made provisions to source additional beds on- and off-site to manage a spike in cases.

“We assure the public that while we are stretched, we are not broken, as from the onset of the pandemic we have anticipated most of the challenges we now face. We continue to serve the public in the best way possible in all areas of healthcare, thanks to our dedicated team,” Bent remarked.

Manchester continues to be hard hit by the pandemic, with the parish confirming 33 new cases in the last 24 hours.

Manchester, and its 1,271 cumulative cases, is Jamaica’s fourth-hardest hit parish—trailing behind Kingston and St Andrew, St Catherine and St James.