‘Time to get back COVID hit economy on track,” PM Holness

Kingston, Jamaica: Prime Minister Andrew Holness, while speaking in the House of Representatives, highlights that it is high time to get back the economy on track, which has been impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. PM Holness added, his administration will continue to assure the continued operation and provision of government services to the people. 

He noted that new measures would be put in place for testing and for requiring vaccination for public sector workers, adding, “The nation must move on; we must move on with our lives. We must get our economy back on track. We cannot allow ourselves to be defeated by the pandemic”. 

Backing his administrations’ decision to re-start face-to-face classes, the prime minister defended by saying, the learning loss to the children is incalculable, and that government cannot keep children away from the school now. 

PM Holness asserted, every effort is being made to ensure that the students, as well as teachers, get a safer environment for study by implementing the necessary precautions.  

“I want to make a special appeal to parents and guardians to closely monitor their children. If you see any sign that your child is not well, please keep them at home. This is the only course in which we will be able to keep the infection rate down in school premises,” the prime minister underscored. 

Addressing the issue of the COVID-19 outbreak, PM Holness noted that the Omicron variant’s breakthrough had witnessed a significant increase in the rise of infections among the vaccinated persons.

“The facts are that 98% of the persons in hospital are unvaccinated, and over 98% of the deaths from COVID-19 are among the unvaccinated. The vaccines have proved to be safe. Approximately 9.5 billion doses have been administered globally, and almost 60% of the population of the world has received at least one jab of a COVID-19 vaccine with minimal adverse effects,” following the statement the prime minister highlighted. 

Concluding his statements, the prime minister furthermore urged and encouraged the unvaccinated general public to get their shots of the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible and to follow the COVID-19 norms and guidelines established by the government.