PM says travellers should prepare to pay for State quarantine

Romario Scott/Gleaner Writer

Travellers who may require State quarantine will be asked to foot the bill, Prime Minister Andrew Holness has announced, admitting that the Government could no longer absorb the cost. 

The Government has forked out hundreds of millions of dollars to house travellers at luxurious north-coast hotels since the outbreak of the pandemic in March. 

“The Government of Jamaica has been very generous, very considerate and it has come at great cost to taxpayers that when we have to put in place state quarantine, the Government pays and we have been paying,” the prime minister said.

However, he said as a matter of policy, the Government cannot continue to do this.

"If it becomes necessary for State quarantine to be implemented, then those persons who would be so affected should take this now as notice that you would have to be prepared to pay,” Holness stated in Parliament Tuesday.

He received strong support from his parliamentary colleagues who banged benches at the announcement.  

Holness noted that other countries were demanding that travellers pay for their State quarantine.

The prime minister, however, sought to assure that the quarantine cost will not be too exorbitant for those who may require it.  

"It may not necessarily be that the person would pay the full economic cost but there would be some cost attributable to the person,” he said. 

The prime minister also insisted that people returning to the island must follow quarantine orders. 

"We have no hesitation in saying to the security forces that they must now go full force as much as they can in enforcing the orders for quarantining at home,” Holness said, stressing it was a serious matter. 

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