With the COVID-19 virus raging across the world and infections increasing here in Jamaica, the Ministry of Health will have to make greater efforts with more stringent testing.

Canada is now insisting that to re-enter the country all passengers must submit to a Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test that reads negative. This must be obtained before boarding the aircraft regardless of citizenship.

This has proved challenging for Jamaica’s Ministry of Health and Wellness, who has said that the country has not been given adequate time to put measures in place. Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton has gone so far to see this as an inadvertent travel ban.

It may not be too long before other developed countries impose similar requirements creating a big problem for visitors looking to return home but unable to access the required test in Jamaica.

Commenting on this COVID-19 predicament, Dr Tufton is reported to have said: “ I think the short notice by the Canadians is a major issue for us and I suspect many other countries due to the impracticality of the requirements for countries, particularly where there is heavy traffic between Canada and those countries to come up to speed in such  a short space of time.”

“Most countries do not have the trained personnel, the equipment in terms of PCR machines or the test kits or reagents which oftentimes is globally in short supply. This means an unlikely adequate response to this type of request.”

Medical professionals both at home and abroad, particularly in the private sector, do not share Dr Tufton’s assessment and point to entreaties made months ago for the Ministry of Health and Wellness to work more closely with the private sector to avoid situations like what has transpired with Canada.

“We have been living with this situation for close to nine months and the Ministry of Health would have been aware that adequate testing and the need for PCR machines would be an immediate priority. This is a case of ‘fail to prepare, prepare to fail’. The Ministry of Health does not have the requisite equipment nor the resources to cope with COVID and should be drafting in the support of the private sector. The impression given is that it alone can manage this and it clearly can’t,” said Dr Clifton Severight from Tremblant, Québec.

With a variant of the virus plaguing the UK, increased infections and deaths in both Canada and the US, greater measures will be put in place to protect borders and monitor who enters these countries.

Dominic Lloyd, formerly with the London Evening Standard, told Our Today: “Jamaica and other Caribbean countries cannot throw their arms up in the air and wail that they don’t have the equipment and the personnel to test people. Infections are going up and greater care was always going to be taken with cross-border transit. The Ministry of Health should have moved quicker to put measures in place, it was caught flat-footed.”

Most of Jamaica’s tourists comes from the US, UK and Canada and these countries form the backbone of its diaspora. This vital artery requires attention and care. There are many people unable to return to Canada, stranded in Jamaica because they are unable to get a test.

Many are bemoaning the country’s shortcomings here and it has caused undue stress. Capacity was always going to be an issue and the Canadian government has forced Jamaica to acknowledge this.

It has now been revealed that there are agencies offering unauthorised antigen tests in full view of the Ministry of Health, which has not moved to address the situation. The costs of legitimate tests are prohibitive for most Jamaicans and those who can afford it are seeking recourse from medical facilities not endorsed by the Ministry of Health.

There is now a black market for testing which the Ministry of Health is unable and does not seem willing to bring under control. With infections numbers on the rise this week, going up by 14 per cent between Monday and Tuesday, unreliable data from illicit testing is a big concern.

The Ministry of Health said it would have antigen test kits ready in August. Nearly six months, later they are still not widely available with most of the eight entities authorized to conduct tests, facing challenges rendering them ineffective.

As of yesterday (Tuesday), there are 13,852 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Jamaica, with a total of 317 deaths. Yesterday saw two deaths and 92 new cases.