By Jamaica Gleaner
Jamaica is now two cases shy of 500 confirmed COVID-19 infections with the confirmation of eight new cases in the past 24 hours.
The new infections bring the total number to 498 confirmed COVID-19 cases.
In a release a short while ago, the Ministry of Health and Wellness said the new cases comprise five males and three females ages 23 to 76 years-old. Two of the men, a 23 year-old and a 30 year-old, are imported cases who returned to the country under the Controlled Re-entry Programme on Wednesday. Both men, who are from St Ann, are asymptomatic, the ministry says, and are in isolation in a government facility.
The other six new cases are contacts of confirmed cases. They are from the parishes of Kingston and St Andrew and St Mary.
The ministry says 101 of the 122 people who were repatriated under the Controlled Re-entry Programme have been tested so far. Two are positive, 94 are negative and five are pending.
The death toll from the disease remains at nine persons, while 78 people have recovered.