Foreign Affairs Minister Kamina Johnson Smith has confirmed that a British diplomat was allowed to leave Kingston’s Norman Manley International Airport after arriving on a flight with more than 100 Jamaicans last week.
The other passengers had to board state buses to be transported to a St Ann hotel to go into mandatory government quarantine.
At a press conference at Jamaica House on Monday, Johnson Smith said the diplomat is the head of the British Consular Affairs section.
She also explained that British authorities in Jamaica have made the appropriate arrangements for the diplomat to be quarantined at their facilities.
“When travel restrictions had started but before Jamaica’s borders were closed, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade in our engagement with our diplomatic corps asked whether we would facilitate re-entry for diplomats critical to the operations of mission where they were impacted by travel restrictions,” Johnson Smith said.
She explained that in light of the obligations of the host country to ensure the operations of residential missions, the matter was taken to the Cabinet and it was agreed that Jamaica would facilitate their re-entry subject to their agreement to adhere to relevant health protocols including quarantine for at least 14 days within the custody of the relevant diplomatic mission.
Johnson Smith revealed that since the borders were closed on March 24, the US Ambassador to Jamaica Donald Tapia and a senior US security official have been granted permission to land.
She said too that under the same arrangement, the defence attaché from the Canadian High Commission will arrive from Toronto on Wednesday.
Two flights from the United States are also scheduled to arrive in Jamaica this week, Johnson Smith said.
One will arrive from Fort Lauderdale and the other from New York, each carrying 96 Jamaicans.
Meanwhile, the Government has reported that six of the Jamaicans who returned last Wednesday have tested positive for the coronavirus.
All six cases worked on the Marella Discovery 2, which had been denied landing in Jamaica a month ago.
