KINGSTON, Jamaica – In the last 24 hours, 322 new samples have been tested, as advised by the National Surveillance Unit in the Ministry of Health and Wellness.

From those samples, three new positive cases have been identified, which brings the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Jamaica to 520.

Six more patients have recovered and have been released from isolation, bringing that total to 127.

The three new cases are imported, from the cohort of Jamaicans who returned to the island from the USA on Wednesday, May 13. They are all females, two, with a local address in Kingston & St. Andrew and one from St Thomas. Their ages range from 37 to 72 years and they were all asymptomatic at the time of sample collection.

Jamaica now has 44 imported cases; 201 cases are contacts of confirmed cases, which includes: 25 cases import-related, 59 related to local transmission cases (not epidemiologically linked) 96 contacts of employees in the workplace cluster in St Catherine and 21 contacts of confirmed cases under investigation. Additionally, there are 24 local transmission cases not epidemiologically-linked and 251 are under investigation (225 of those under investigation are linked to the workplace cluster in St. Catherine and 26 others.)

Some 315 (61%) of the confirmed cases are females and there are 205 (39%) males, with the ages of all confirmed cases ranging from two months to 87 years.

Of the 520 cases confirmed with COVID-19 to date, 127 have recovered (24.4% recovery rate), and nine (1.7%) individuals have died.

There are 384 (74%) active cases, of which there is one moderately ill patient and none critically ill.

There are 437 patients in isolation and 324 persons of interest in quarantine at a government facility.  

The National Public Health Laboratory and the National Influenza Centre have tested to date, a total of 8,515 samples with 7, 930 negative and 65 samples are pending.

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