5 new cases of COVID-19 …10 persons remain in COVID ICU

Five persons have been tested positive for COVID-19 within the last 24 hours in Guyana bringing the national total to 278. The country has also recorded 15 deaths.

Authorities here are very concerned about the steep climb in the number of cases and have promised to deploy mobile emergency response and enforcement teams are to be established throughout the country to enforce COVID-19 emergency measures. This was disclosed by the National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF) Secretariat’s Operations Director, Mark Archer during a virtual press briefing over the weekend. The team will be comprised of members of the Guyana Police Force and the Ministry of Public Health.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Guyana is rising sharply again and within the past few days, there have been several deaths. This has been attributed to persons not adhering to the emergency measures outlined by the Ministry of Public Health and the NCTF. To date, Guyana has 272 confirmed cases coupled with 15 deaths. Noting that there needs to be more enforcement of the emergency measures, Archer disclosed that “a directive was given to the Ministry of Public Security to establish a special unit to enforce not only measures such as the curfew but also to go into the new hotspots in our interior regions so that we can bring an end to some of the lawlessness that is happening in some of the mining camps.”

He explained that boat landings, bridges, roadways, mining and logging camps and villages where there are reports of persons are not adhering to the curfew and social distancing, will be targeted. The same will be done in Georgetown. Additionally, officials in Santa Rosa, Moruca, Region One have implemented a 14-day lockdown due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases. There will also be a partial lockdown in the Upper Mazaruni, Region Seven beginning from July 7, 2020.