

Several native villages have experienced cases of coronary virus disease (COVID-19) after residents became infected, creating hotspots that needed urgent intervention.

Collin Adrian
In fact, special teams from the Ministry of Health were sent to the communities but given the remote locations, there can be challenges in terms of accessibility. But according to the leaders, there are a number of contributory factors that have led to transition.
Toshao of Orealla, Carl Peneux told Guyana Times on Friday that his community was seeing incredibly good results in the first eight months of the pandemic. However, he noted that individuals who came in from neighboring Suriname led to infections. After over 100 cases at the District Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) location, officials had to close the village by lockdown.
“It was good from March to October last year but something went wrong. I believe his people were infiltrating from Suriname into the community and to the coast so we started to get the infection. At one point in November we were at least 100 positive cases wrong so we have to close the community. “
Peneux said that exacerbating the issue was the fact that residents were breaking the measures, putting themselves at greater risk. He insisted that law enforcement should introduce more conflict in such communities to prevent such a situation from happening again.
Toshao explained, “No resident has been charged because the Police have not been doing their job effectively. People are very careless. They remain careless and we currently have at least 22 positives. So that’s the situation at the moment. ”
For now, he said the death toll remains one. Most of the infected people last year have recovered while the active patients are quarantined. The village leader pleaded for health officials to return to Orealla and conduct additional tests. This way, he noted, any positives that are not found will be noted.
“These are now isolated and we hope they will improve. I’m asking the Ministry of Health to come back and do more tests so we can identify others that might be positive, ”Peneux noted.
Last week, Moraikobai in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) had also witnessed spikes. Toshao Collin Adrian stressed that he was complacent on behalf of the residents. Now, the Council has been working to increase sensitivity on the subject and the risks associated with breaking down national guidance.
Adrian told the media, “At first they co-operated and then they paused. I think it was mixed information going across and now we understand the seriousness of it and we want everyone to understand it. We have sensitized the public and now they are cooperating. I guess the cases will start coming down now. ”
In light of recent spikes, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony had acknowledged that village officials and leaders can play an important role in strengthening security measures to improve compliance.
He was quoted as saying, “People in leadership and influential positions, such as community leaders, religious leaders can really help us by helping to spread COVID-specific education, model COVID best practices… and help us to get that message across because the Ministry of Health alone and the Task Force cannot do all the necessary education work. ”(Rupa Seenaraine)
