Health Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton
.png)
00:00
00:00
00:00
Dr. Christopher Tufton
Manchester will be placed under tighter COVID-19 restrictions beginning today (Monday, January 25) as the parish grapples with a spike in cases of the virus.
Health Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton said the curfew for the parish will be 7:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. daily until February 8.
Public gatherings will also be limited to 10 people.
Markets as well as vending in public arcades and transportation centres will only be allowed between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.
Public transportation will operate from 4:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. but should not transport passengers within the first and last hour of the time limit.
Dr. Tufton said the measures are a result of Manchester seeing a rapid increase in COVID-19 cases, with more than 30 communities affected.
"The parish of Manchester accounts for some 11.3 per cent of all confirmed COVID-19 cases in the last two weeks and presently 5.3 per cent of the total confirmed cases ever for the country are in that parish," he revealed.
He added that the positivity rate for the parish has been the highest in the country for the last two weeks at 27.8 per cent, which is three times the national positivity rate of 10.8 per cent.
The Health Minister, who was speaking Monday morning during a virtual media briefing, warned that COVID-19 wards in Manchester are almost full.
Mandeville Regional Hospital is on amber alert at 76 per cent capacity, while Percy Junor Hospital is on red alert at 83 per cent occupancy.
All feeds
