JAMAICA’S MAIN opposition party, the People’s National Party (PNP), has urged its government not to accept deportees from the UK amid the rising number of COVID-19 cases.

More than 50 people are scheduled to be deported to Jamaica from the UK tomorrow.

A campaign to stop the deportation has seen activist organisations, celebrities, public figures and politicians all voice their opposition to the flight and demand it is halted.

Dr Morais Guy, Jamaica’s shadow minister for health and wellness, shared his concerns about the timing of the flight given the Caribbean country’s COVID-19 status.

Jamaica has recorded more than 10,000 cases of COVID-19 and more than 250 deaths from the coronavirus.

He said: “Jamaica is by no means out of the woods where the control of COVID-19 infections are concerned. The deportees are coming from the UK which is itself under lockdown as it attempts to gain control of the high rate of infections in its own jurisdiction. This is not the time to be welcoming deportees from the UK.”

The minister is conscious that there appears to be a correlation between people arriving in Jamaica from overseas and the rise in COVID-19 cases.

The PNP has issued a number of recommendations in the event that the flight goes ahead. These include pre and post COVID-19 PCR testing and mandatory two-week quarantine for all individuals who arrive on the flight.

Anyone who shows symptoms of the virus during the two-week quarantine period should be isolated in a government facility until they return a negative test, the PLP said.

The Home Office has said that it has “robust contingency measures in place”.

“All individuals due to be on this flight will be assessed by a healthcare professional before they leave the immigration removal centre. This will include a temperature check. A second temperature check will take place before they board the plane,” the Home Office said.

Guy also expressed concern over whether the individuals facing deportation have all “exhausted their due process and mitigatory options before being deported”.

He has called on the Jamaican government to pursue the highest diplomatic engagements to stop the flight from taking place.