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The Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) says talks are taking place with a laboratory in Miami, Florida to conduct large scale COVID-19 testing amid challenges in the local health sector.
It comes amid growing demand for international airline passengers to present negative COVID-19 tests before boarding flights.
Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett on Wednesday announced the establishment of a special task force to help boost the country's testing capacity.
JHTA President Clifton Reader told Radio Jamaica News that the Miami-based lab will be able to conduct more than 20,000 PCR tests weekly.
However, Mr. Reader said the antigen tests now required by the US for airline passengers will be more affordable than PCR tests.
"The antigen test is more economical and it's also more widely available in Jamaica. So that's definitely a silver lining because if they were requiring a PCR like Canada, then we would not necessarily have the capacity to do all of that," he pointed out.
Still, Mr. Reader is confident Jamaica's capacity to provide COVID-19 testing will increase within days with more local laboratories providing services.
"Right now, we only have two labs doing testing itself, so we will be able to double that capacity soon," he declared.
Growth
Despite setbacks caused by the new requirement for international airline passengers to present negative COVID-19 test results, Delano Seiveright, Senior Advisor in the Tourism Ministry, still expects the local tourism sector to realise growth this year.
While he admitted there will be challenges, Mr. Seiveright agreed that Jamaica is "in a better position" since antigen tests "are far better able to get done than the PCR test, where we have a serious logistical problem in terms of supplies and getting things in."
"But overall, we expect that over time, we'll build up and we'll be back in growth mode, certainly in coming weeks," he said.
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