Review of COVID-19 protocols for reopening of Guyana/ Suriname crossing near completion

Discussions should be finalised soon on the coordinating of COVID-19 protocols for reopening of the Guyana/Suriname crossing at Moleson Creek on the Corentyne River, Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony said.

The Minister of Health told the Department of Public Information (DPI) that he has been working with Suriname’s Minister of Public Health, Amar Ramadhin to arrive at an agreement.

“We have been working with the Surinamese authority to ensure we can synchronise our guidelines and protocols for the reopening of the Moleson Creek port. We followed up with a number of other meetings between our technical groups, and we have been working on developing that,” he said.

Minister Anthony said those guidelines needed more than the usual attention.

“As you know, our guidelines are fairly stringent. We require a PCR within 72 hours and then you will be allowed to go without quarantining, and if that PCR is beyond 72 hours but within seven days, then you will have to do a second PCR test on arrival in Guyana,” the Minister explained.

He added that Suriname’s COVID-19 protocols were however, slightly different.

“In addition to the PCR that they require to enter, they also require people to be in quarantine for 14 days. So, there is a little bit of difference people travelling over to Suriname would have to go into quarantine. So we are trying to synchronise and we are currently wrapping up those discussions,” the Minister stated.

Dr. Anthony said once the protocols are finalised, discussions on when to reopen the crossing would begin.

Guyana and Suriname have an ongoing working relationship to co-operate in areas of health, infrastructure development and business and trade.