The Ministry of Health and Wellness has rubbished a Gleaner story that stated that members of the healthcare service tested positive for COVID-19.

A statement issued by the Ministry stated: “We wish to emphatically state that no doctor,

nurse or any member of the frontline staff in the public health system or private

practice in Jamaica has tested positive for COVID-19 and that there are no healthcare

workers excluded from the count of positive cases in Jamaica.

“We do acknowledge that an interview was given by the Minister of Health and

Wellness, Dr. the Honourable Christopher Tufton, MP. During the interview with the

Sunday Gleaner, a range of questions were posed and answers given on several

Matters, including general testing of persons and frontline healthcare workers, and

whether these tests were positive and included in the announced 19 cases.

“We indicated that some members of the frontline staff have been in quarantine, due to exposure to

COVID-19 cases in Jamaica, but all have tested negative and are serving the

quarantine period of 14 days.

“To safeguard our first responders, including nurses and doctors, Jamaica has

established a protocol to randomly test our healthcare team for COVID-19 and those

who may have unknowingly come in contact with a suspected COVID-19 case, they

undergo the requisite quarantine and testing protocols.

“At the same time, through the daily media briefings, press releases, interviews and

snapshot dashboards, the Ministry has been fully transparent, as it relates to the

number of persons tested for COVID-19, those in quarantine, isolation and the

number of persons, who would have come to Jamaica from a country of interest.

As at Friday March 20, Jamaica has tested a total 89 cases at the National Influenza

Centre, 19 cases have come back positive and 70 have been negative for COVID-19.”