Health Minister, Dr. Christopher Tufton, is to address the nation this evening on the growing fears about COVID-19.
The coronavirus is now in at least two Caribbean territories.
That’s according to a statement from the Jamaica Information Service, JIS, this afternoon.
Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have now been identified in St. Martin, St Barts and the Dominican Republic.
While Jamaica has no confirmed case of COVID-19, the virus has already touched Caribbean shores.
Just east of Jamaica, health authorities in the Dominican Republic on Sunday identified the virus in a tourist visiting from Italy.
The patient, a 62-year-old man, was transferred to an isolation room in a military hospital near the capital, Santo Domingo.
He’s in stable condition.
Dominican Health Minister, Rafael Sanchez, says another tourist, a 56-year-old man from France, is under observation in hospital.
He’s awaiting test results.
Meanwhile, another Caribbean Island, St. Martin confirmed two cases of Covid-19 on Sunday.
These persons are currently in isolation.
St. Barts has also identified a case of the virus.
The virus has infected some 80-thousand people worldwide. It has killed more than three-thousand.
The government has restricted travel to five countries with confirmed local transmission.
These include China, Iran, Italy, Singapore and South Korea.
While Jamaica has no confirmed case of the virus, two people remain in isolation pending test results.
