Jamaica has increased its COVID-19 testing capacity in response to the recent introduction of testing requirements mandating American and Canadian tourists to test negative before flying home.
“Jamaica is now very ready,” said Jamaica’s minister of tourism, Edmund Bartlett. “We have developed the infrastructure to secure the quantities of testing agents and/or to enable the viral testing methods that are approved by the relevant authorities.”
“All visitors who come to Jamaica will be able to access approved testing arrangements to enable them to fulfil the requirements of their respective countries for re-entry.”
The updates came as a result of work by the special task force recently developed by Bartlett, specifically for the purpose of increasing Jamaica’s testing capacity. The task force has also created a system to make testing easier for tourists.
“The task force has done quite a lot of work, which includes taking steps to assess and determine the capacity to respond to the need for testing of all visitors going back to their country and I am pleased to say that that work is completed,” Bartlett said.
“We are able to report positively that the labs are all accredited and resourced. We have also established two redundancy arrangements. They are located at sites close to both international airports in Montego Bay and Kingston.”
All of Jamaica’s major hotels and resorts are equipped for testing. Hotels that are not performing on-site testing have transportation arrangements to take guests to the nearest testing facility, and guests will be able to pay for their tests before arriving at the testing location, if they choose to.
Both antigen and PCR testing will also be available at Sangster International Airport and Norman Manley International Airport. There are also numerous private laboratories approved by the Ministry of Health and Wellness.
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