Western Bureau:
Tourism Minster Edmund Bartlett has rejected claims that the tourism industry is to blame for the recent spike in COVID-19 cases, especially in the western region, instead blaming locals for their blatant disregard for the orders under the Disaster Risk Management Act.
He said that since the country’s borders were reopened in June, 300,000 visitors, including 80,000 Jamaicans, had entered the island up to Tuesday with no outbreaks linked to the industry.
“I want to say, don’t make it be felt that tourism is to be blamed for any undue spread,” Bartlett said at yesterday’s unveiling of the road safety improvement project at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James.