The Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) has ripped into the Government’s newest round of COVID-19 restrictions, labeling the decisions announced by Prime Minister Andrew Holness on Sunday night as focused entirely on social control strategies.

In a statement this afternoon, Dr Morais Guy, shadow minister of health and wellness, said Holness adminstration was at the same time “ignoring blatant breaches by the Government spaces they control such as tax offices, markets, and transport centres”.

Guy’s comment came just hours after the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica said it welcomed the approach taken by the Government to implement a partial lockdown around the holiday period to curb the spread of COVID-19.

READ: PSOJ backs recently announced COVID-containment measures

Guy, in the PNP statement, however registered “grave concern” with the extended weekend curfew hours, which he said would mean overcrowding in supply establishments during the shortened opening hours.

“Holy Thursday is one of the biggest shopping days of the year and consumers will be hard-pressed to complete their activities within schedule,” he said.

NO SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE MEDICAL MANAGEMENT

Guy also said he was concerned that the Cabinet had offered no solutions to improve the medical management of the COVID-19 crisis, “despite the health sector being completely overwhelmed at this time”.

He said the plan did not “reflect input from scientists and health professionals who have the burden of day-to-day management of the crisis”.

He went on to argue that, with nearly 700 confirmed and unconfirmed cases in hospitals, there as need for urgent arrangements for additional hospital beds.

Guy said he was now urging a ‘whole of country’ approach to the crisis, involving the Opposition, the private sector and civil society.

“All public and private health professionals must be mobilised and deployed to save Jamaica,” Guy said.

He also called for vital hospital supplies including oxygen, drugs, safety clothing and disposables to be provided to all institutions throughout the entire public health system.

Masks, he said, should also be distributed free of cost to low income and unemployed persons in town centres and other heavily trafficked areas.