Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jacquiline Bisasor McKenzie - file photo
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Dr. Jacquiline Bisasor McKenzie
More results are expected Tuesday from tests done on persons in Jamaica who have shown symptoms of the new coronavirus.
Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jacquiline Bisasor McKenzie says once the final confirmatory test results are received, the country will be notified.
She said there will not be a repeat of Monday's incident where the preliminary results were released and had to be revised.
Speaking on the Morning Agenda on Power 106, Dr. Bisasor McKenzie also responded to the call from the head of the World Health Organisation for countries to escalate testing.
She said only symptomatic persons are being tested.
"For persons who do not have symptoms, once there is a casual contact, then those persons are asked for self quarantine. The public health team is within the community and so we will know, persons report to us, if there are developments of symptoms...they are isolated and tested," she said.
"If it is that we go out and test everybody who are contacts then we may get a false sense of security because persons may be initially negative and then become positive because there is (an) up to 14 day incubation period that we know of," she added.
The WHO chief has said there has not been an urgent enough escalation in testing, isolation and contact tracing, which should be the backbone of the global response.
He said it is not possible to fight a fire blindfolded, and social distancing measures and hand washing alone will not extinguish the epidemic.
Father of first patient tests positive for COVID-19
In the meantime, Dr. Bisasor McKenzie has clarified that the father of the first person confirmed with COVID-19 has tested positive for the virus.
In a report in the Gleaner on Tuesday, the man denied having the illness.
He is in isolation.
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