UPDATE: Health Ministry carrying out interventions in and around St Catherine community with ZIKV case

The Health Ministry is now carrying out what it says are the necessary interventions in and around the St Catherine community where the first case of the Zika virus (ZIKV) was confirmed locally.

As part of these measures, the ministry says attempts are being made to determine whether there are other cases of the virus in any of those communities while heightening its vector control activities.

The intervention comes after the health ministry received confirmation from the Caribbean Public Health Agency late yesterday that a four-year-old boy who resides in Portmore is the first person to contract the virus in Jamaica.

According to the ministry, the  boy began showing symptoms of ZIKV on January 17 after returning to the island from the State of Texas in the United States and was investigated at the Bustamante Hospital for Children.

It says the boy has recovered and that no other member of his family is ill at this time.

Despite this, the health ministry says the case is being investigated to determine the source of the infection and that the boy’s parents and other family members have been contacted by a team of health officials.

READ: ZIKV FACTS: Common symptoms of Zika virus

Meanwhile, health minister Horace Dalley is expected to provide the nation with a full update on the country’s preparedness for the virus.

This will come at a press conference scheduled for Monday.

The ministry is appealing to citizens, particularly pregnant women, to take extra precaution to prevent being bitten by the Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes, which transmit the virus.

And it says there is adequate medication in the public health system to treat the symptoms of ZIKV infection should other cases be identified.