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It is being forecast that 30% to 60% of the Jamaican population could eventually be affected by the Chikungunya virus.
However Dr Kevin Harvey, acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, says the majority of cases will be mild and the virus has a fatality rate of less than one per cent.
Dr. Harvey, speaking on TVJ's All Angles on Wednesday night, said the Ministry does not know the actual number of persons with Chick V, as it can only report numbers received by its representatives.
"Every body; every single individual, is susceptible to Chikungunya, and the mosquito that carries (it) is everywhere, so we are expecting that the parishes that are not yet impacted will be impacted," he said.
He said the only mitigating step that the health authorities can realistically take "is to try our best to make it as slow as possible, to make it incremental and not an explosive situation that is going to take out a significant number of the population at a particular time."