Jamaica’s Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie has warned that he will be outlining more stringent measures for those visiting rivers and beaches.

McKenzie issued the warning while speaking at the COVID-19 press briefing on Monday (June 29) in which he revealed that compliance with social distancing protocols at beaches and rivers remains low.

“Over the weekend, Prime Minister and colleagues we did another underground assessment and we have found that there is about a 91% non-compliance of all the protocols of the beaches that we surveyed,” said McKenzie.

He said this will be addressing the matter in Parliament today, July 1, when he would outline certain steps that will be implemented to ensure improved compliance.

“But I just want to make a point to the wider public and to emphasize a point made by the Prime Minister. There has to be a certain level of responsibility that is brought to the table by Jamaicans. We understand the importance of going to the beach and to the rivers and to exercise and to have some level of freedom, But we have to do this in a controlled fashion,” said McKenzie.

“What we are seeing is a level of indiscipline that has creeped into the use of these facilities,” added McKenzie.