Holness told  Parliament this afternoon, that the gathering limit will be reduced from 15 to 10 persons and the restriction will last for two weeks, ending on February 24.

He said while the curfews have been effective, they also come at a cost: “The curfew has proven to be the most effective measure, but it is the most expensive measure because of the impact it has on the economy,” Holness said.

“The curfew helps to filter non-productive activities but it does have an impact on productive activities that happen outside curfew hours,” he added.

Holness stated that a ticketing legislation for violation of curfew hours and quarantine orders will be brought before Parliament in the upcoming weeks.

On Monday Jamaica recorded its highest number of new COVID-19 cases in a single day, with 403 positives confirmed from the 1,935 samples tested in the last 24 hours, bringing the country's total infections to 17,701, with 4,793 active cases.

There was one new death from the disease, that of an 84 year-old man from the Corporate Area, pushing the death tally to 359. 

Of the new cases, 154 are males and 249 are females, with ages ranging from 63 days to 96 years.

Manchester recorded the most new cases with 81, followed by St James with 69, Kingston and St Andrew with 66, and St Catherine with 54. Portland recorded only one case.

According to the Ministry of Health, 44 more persons have recovered for a total of 12,362 while 156 persons have been hospitalised with 22 being moderately and 13 critically ill. Twelve  persons are in government quarantine, while 18,727 are quarantined at home.

Nationally, Portland, with one of the smallest populations by parish, continues to have the least number of COVID-19 cases, with 405. The Corporate Area, the country's largest population centre, has registered 5,023 cases, followed by St. Catherine (with the second largest population), 3,454 infections. St. James, which also has a significant population, comes next with 1,886 cases.

National attention has recently been focused on Manchester however because of the sudden surge in cases which now sees that parish registering 1,203 cases since the start of the pandemic in Jamaica. Clarendon, the adjoining parish to the east, has 1,006 cases, and St. Elizabeth, on the western boundary of Manchester, has 620.