The Jamaican government has extended the island’s curfew until December 1 as the country prepares for a holiday season with COVID-19.
The Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) announced the extension of all the current COVID-19 protocols and measures, including the 9 PM to 5 AM curfew for the next two weeks, at which time an update will be given on the measures that will guide the Christmas season.
“Cabinet is currently assessing and reviewing the situation and will advise on the measures applicable for December 2020, and in particular the Christmas period, in another two weeks,” OPM said in a release.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness had earlier indicated that the country could see some relaxation of restrictions during the Christmas season, as Jamaicans were experiencing “COVID-19 fatigue”.
But, the prime minister stressed that any relaxation of the measures “depends of course on what the numbers are saying now. So if we keep the measures faithfully in compliance, it is likely that we should be able to have a controlled relaxation of the measures during the Christmas period”.
He was quick to point out that even then, “We would ask our citizens to exercise even greater personal responsibility in how they move around”. Over the past month, the island has seen a steady decline in the daily reported cases, even as the country approaches 10,000 cases.
Over the last 24 hours, 30 new cases and two deaths were reported, pushing the total cases to 9,959, of which 4,256 are active. The death toll since the outbreak stands at 231.
