…says no existing direct flights between two countries
Authorities here said there are no existing direct flights between the UK and Guyana and countries with connecting flights to the UK, from which people fly to Guyana, have taken their own precaution.
In recent international news, renowned media houses such the BBC, New York Times, Aljazeera and CNN have all reported that a variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19, has been noticed by scientists in the UK. The new strain is said to be more contagious than established ones. However, according to the New York Times, there is no strong evidence thus far that the new strain causes more severe disease and most experts doubt that it will have any great impact on vaccines, although nothing has been ruled out yet.
On Tuesday, the Village Voice News reached out to Director General of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), Lt. Col. (ret’d) Egbert Field who said that the Ministry of Health and the GCAA are monitoring the development.
“The GCAA is actively looking at this and we’re in conversation with the Ministry of Health while we still have the time. As a third [world] country, we do not have any direct flights to the UK or from the UK. There are all flights which are connecting flights and most of the flights from the UK connects through Miami or North America and since North America has a ban on the UK, we, as a third [world] country, are in a situation where we can say we’re relatively safe at the moment,” Field said.
On Monday the BBC reported that over 40 countries have banned travel to or from the UK with Jamaica being one of the Caribbean countries amongst them. Jamaica’s Ministry of Health and Wellness said that the ban takes effect immediately and will prohibit all flights from the UK to Jamaica for an initial two-week period ending January 4, 2021.
Guyana has not established any ban on the UK for the aforementioned reasons. The existing Standing Operating Procedures (SOPs) at Guyana’s international airports as well as internationally established COVID-19 protocols are still in place.
“We feel that the protocols are strict enough. What we’re doing is monitoring these present measures and protocols and ensuring that any loopholes or any gaps are taken care of, are plugged,” the Director-General said. “All flights are as per normal…there is no need for alarm for the Guyanese public. The measure we have are pretty stringent and, in terms of the new strain, we’re insulated.”
Persons travelling to Guyana are still expected to produce a negative PCR test not older than 72 hours or will be asked to take another PCR test upon arrival.
