Delano Seiveright, Senior Communications Strategist in the Ministry of Tourism - Gleaner file photo
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Delano Seiveright
The Ministry of Tourism has said there is no change in protocols for visitors to Jamaica apart from the eight banned southern African countries, in light of the Omicron variant.
Two of Jamaica's main tourism partners, the UK and Canada have cases of the variant which has been spreading quickly to countries.
Delano Seiveright, Senior Communications Strategist in the Ministry of Tourism, said the presentation of a negative COVID test on arrival is sufficient at this time.
"As it stands now, everybody who comes to Jamaica above the age of 12 has to present a negative COVID test, whether antigen or PCR. For now, that appears to be adequate and that's the holding position that many countries have to date," he explained.
The Omicron variant was first detected by South African scientists last week and reported to the World Health Organization.
Jamaica on Saturday imposed an entry ban on visitors from Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini, South Africa, Malawi and Mozambique.
Mr. Seiveright said there was one incident in which a South African businessman had challenges coming to Jamaica because of the ban on visitors from that country. However, he said does not expect widescale fallout from the ban, as traffic between Jamaica and southern African countries is extremely low.
Mr. Seiveright said the developments regarding the new COVID-19 variant are being closely monitored by the tourism industry.
He was, however, encouraged by the fact that the new variant "does not appear to have the devastating symptoms" of previous COVID variants.
Mr. Seiveright said he is confident that the tourism industry will be able to manage the Omicron variant if people continue to abide by the COVID-19 protocols, including mask wearing, sanitising and social distancing, as well as getting vaccinated.
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