PM Holness Addresses Variant, Border Closure Concerns

Prime Minister Andrew Holness disclosed that the Government is at this time not considering border closure for unvaccinated non-nationals due to economic consequences, this came before the confirmation of the Mu variant in the country.

Meanwhile, he says there is still no timeline for when Jamaica will be able to test samples and determine variants of the virus, locally. The Mu variant of COVID-19 is the fifth variant of interest currently being monitored by the world health organization (who), which says it has been identified in more than 39 countries; among them the United States, Canada, and parts of Europe.

The variant has now emerged in the Caribbean as St. Vincent and the Grenadines confirmed on Tuesday, September 7, that 5 cases had been detected there. The World Health Organization, (W.H.O) says the latest variant has the potential to evade. There are concerns about unvaccinated non-nationals entering the country and border closure, but the Prime Minister says the Cabinet has not yet contemplated closing the borders to these individuals, citing a massive impact on Jamaica’s economy.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness, while expressing disappointment that the country has not yet acquired a genome sequencing machine to test for variants of COVID-19, points to an inevitable procurement process. He says in the interim, the Health Ministry will continue to send samples to be tested overseas to determine the variants present among the population.

The Minister says the Government continues to monitor the mu variant, adding that the inoculation of everyone is the real solution to new variants of COVID-19 taking hold in Jamaica.

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