Following a notable decline in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in recent weeks, the Private Sector Organization of Jamaica (PSOJ) has welcomed Prime Minister Andrew Holness’ recent indication that coronavirus measures under the Disaster Risk Management Act (DRMA) will soon come to an end.

Speaking in the House of Representatives last Thursday (February 10), Holness shared: “I believe that the DRMA has reached its limit. I believe that the country has reached the tolerance limit for restrictions.”

While introducing a number of more relaxed COVID-19 measures set to expire on February 25, the prime minister gave notice that the Government of Jamaica would be moving to bring the DRMA measures to an end in short order.

The move to end COVID-19 measures under the DRMA is expected to gradually remove some of the more restrictive “guard rails” that have stagnated the country’s economic recovery as well as introduce a return to normalcy.

In a press statement today (February 15), the PSOJ endorsed the prime minister’s view “that the time is now to move to return Jamaica to some level of normalcy as the country has gotten weary of the disruption in their daily lives and the impact on economic activities”.

The organisation further relayed that, “with no new variant on the horizon currently” and the “lifting of restrictions on movement and public gatherings globally”, it is confident that the science and the data support Holness’ position to reopen the country.

The statement closed: “We encourage persons to continue to be guided by the updated science, get vaccinated and reduce further opportunities for new variants to emerge thereby protecting our health system.”