As part of the country’s covid-19 response plan, Cabinet has given approval for the National Arena in St Andrew to be retrofitted for use as a field hospital if cases of the virus surge.

The announcement was made this morning at a parliamentary committee meeting by permanent secretary in the health ministry, Dunstan Bryan.

He noted that the country’s cases are still relatively low and manageable but plans must be put in place to prepare for a surge.

The retrofitting of the facility should be completed within two to three weeks.

He noted that a recent visit was conducted to the site to ascertain its capacity, and that the design of the field hospital is being finalized.

The Jamaica Defence Force will be leading the implementation of the hospital which will be retrofitted at a cost of 182 million dollars.

The money will come from some $2.8 b that was made available by the ministry of finance to fund covid-19 interventions.