Jamaica’s Government is being urged by hotel interests to expand its approved regime on COVID-19 evaluation for travellers to include rapid tests that would be cheaper but less foolproof than the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) model that is currently used.
The pitch for the parallel strategy has been made by the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), as the country’s hospitality industry struggles to recover from a travel sector hit by COVID-19-related entry barriers and a recessionary global economy that has sapped appetite for flights and cruises.
“This will give us a faster turnaround and will free up the government labs and bring in private labs that have the resources,” JHTA President Omar Robinson said.
Jamaica recorded 140 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, bringing overall infections to 3,323.
