The main opposition People’s National Party warns of a number of babies being born in Jamaica with microcephaly as a result of the present number of cases of the mosquito-borne Zika virus in the country.

PNP spokesman on health, Horace Dalley, accuses the Andrew Holness government of failing to state its plan for the testing of women who do not fit the case profile.

He says there is no policy to deal with the “looming” cases of microcephaly, a rare neurological condition in children.

He says the “lack of support for the upgraded virology lab,” has left pregnant women “untested and worried that their babies are likely to be born with microcephaly”.

He called for an upgrade of facilities and labs.

But there is an assurance that the University Hospital of the West Indies’ virology lab is to receive new machinery to assist with Zika testing at a cost of 68 million dollars.

Chief medical officer Dr. Winston De La Haye revealed this.

As of July 2nd, there were 26 confirmed cases of Zika – 16 females and 10 males.

The majority of the cases are from Kingston, St. Andrew and St. Catherine.

The number of suspected cases in pregnant women stands at 142, with 4 confirmed cases.