Western Bureau:

THE NORWOOD community, on the outskirts of Montego Bay, St James, was yesterday placed under community surveillance by the Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA) after several positive COVID-19 cases were discovered.

According to a WRHA release, some 40 members of the authority’s healthcare team, including nurses, public health inspectors, public health nurses, and community health aides, descended on the community, conducting house-to-house visits to assess the residents for respiratory symptoms.

In a Gleaner interview late yesterday, Stephen Davidson, the director of public relations and communications in the Ministry of Health & Wellness, confirmed that 15 cases of COVID-19 had been linked to the community, prompting the decision to place Norwood under surveillance.

“The health team is on the ground in the community going house-to-house, doing temperature checks and swabbing of residents to determine their status,” explained Davidson. “In the cases linked to the community, eight are imported and seven import related.”

According to Davidson, the ongoing house-to-house testing exercise, which could be extended into a second day (today), if there is a need, will ultimately determine the number of persons who will be listed for contact tracing.

The WRHA release noted that “the index (the point of entry) case has been isolated in a government facility and so far 13 close contacts were tested, which resulted in seven positives, two negatives and four samples are pending.”