Of the newly reported cases, the Ministry of Health and Wellness said there were 170 males and 293 females with ages ranging from three months to 89 years. The genders of five of the cases are still under investigation.

The Corporate Area of Kingston and St. Andrew accounted for 172 of the new cases, while the adjoining parish of St. Catherine had 75.

Manchester showed a high infection rate with 59 cases, followed by St. James with 29 and the adjoining parish of Trelawny, 25, while St. Mary recorded 22 new cases of the virus and St. Elizabeth, 20. 

The parish of Clarendon registered 19 new cases, Westmoreland, 12, St. Ann, 11, and Hanover 10.

The eastern parishes of Portland and St. Thomas had increases of eight and six, respectively. 

The 468 new infections came from 1,503 samples tested, a positivity rate of 31 per cent. 

So far there have been 19,773 positive tests from 188,248 samples since Jamaica started testing for the virus, but in recent weeks the positivity rate has been going up significantly.

There are 251 patients in hospital; 49 are moderately ill and 19 are deemed critically ill. 

The country also recorded 49 recoveries bringing the total number of recoveries to 12,684.