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Sections of May Pen Hospital closed after patient turns-up with COVID-19

The Accident and Emergency unit at the May Pen Hospital was temporarily closed on Friday (July 31) after a patient turned up displaying symptoms of the coronavirus.

A swab was collected from the patient and a positive test result was received from the lab.

A hospital staff member told The Den that the area, in which the patient visited was cordoned off for sanitization purposes; with individuals requiring assistance redirected to another section of the hospital.

The Accident and Emergency Unit is to reopen later today with hospital CEO St Andrade Sinclair noting that operations should return to normal within the next 24-hours.

“Of course with everything you are going to have down time – it is a hospital so sometimes you are in alert position, sometimes you are in a position where things are calm,” Sinclair told a local radio station

“Whenever it arrives- the situation for you to move fast, you’re going to move fast; And when COVID-19 or a suspected patient comes up and they’re positive you have to move fast, because you are going to have to ensure that whomever the patient was in contact with- you contact trace them and all of the other necessaries so that you prevent any further infection, ” added Sinclair.

In late March the Corn Piece Settlement in Clarendon was put under quarantine following the first confirmed COVID-19 death, that of a 79-year-old man.

To date Jamaica has 864 confirmed COVID-19 cases.

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