10 more confirmed COVID-19 cases, bringing total to 488

A total of 421 coronavirus (COVID-19) samples were tested within the last 24 hours at the National Influenza Centre and the National Public Health Laboratory.

Ninety-nine samples were repeat tests for persons of interest and patients in quarantine and isolation, while 322 were new samples.

Jamaica has now done 6,417 tests, with 5,887 negatives and 42 samples pending.

The number of new positive samples has increased by 10, bringing the total number of positive cases in Jamaica to 488.

Among the 10 new cases, eight were female and two were male. Their ages range from four to 39 years.

Six persons are under investigation.

There are now 224 confirmed COVID-19 cases related to the St Catherine workplace cluster, Alorica. They affected individuals are primarily from St Catherine and Kingston and St Andrew. Their ages range from 18 to 53 years. They include 168 females and 56 males.

The National Surveillance Unit of the Ministry of Health and Wellness has advised that Jamaica now has 35 imported cases, 176 cases are contacts of confirmed cases (26 cases are import-related, 53 are related to local transmission cases (not epidemiologically linked), 88 are contacts of employees in the workplace cluster in St Catherine, and nine are contacts of confirmed cases under investigation).

Additionally, 20 are local transmission cases not epidemiologically linked, and 257 are under investigation (224 of those under investigation are linked to the workplace cluster, and there are 33 others).

Some 300 (61 per cent) of the confirmed cases are females, and there are 188 (39 per cent) males; while the ages of all confirmed cases range from two months to 87 years.

There are now 447 patients in isolation and 155 persons are in quarantine at a Government facility.

Nine persons have died, while one additional patient has recovered and has been released from hospital, bringing the total number of recovered and released patients to 58.