Last updated on Saturday, 30 January 2021, 22:11 by Denis Chabrol

President Irfaan Ali delivers a speech to the nation on measures being taken to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
As Guyana prepares to import 20,000 Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccines and examine imports from other sources, President Irfaan Ali said his country would ensure that the injections are certified and safe.
“I want you to feel confident; indeed feel assured that when the vaccines arrive and begin dispensing, they will receive the full approval of the World Health Organization and be safe, ”he said in the interaction of Social Media with the public and the media.
Dr. suggested Ali strongly said that he would be the first to take one of the vaccines.
The President announced that China would provide 20,000 vaccines, setting the stage for Guyanese to begin receiving the injections from February and early March.
Scientists in Brazil say the Chinese vaccine, CoronaVac, manufactured by China’s Sinovac, has a 50.6 percent efficacy rate against asymptomatic cases and cases that do not require medical attention. At the same time, it is considered to be 78 percent effective in preventing symptomatic cases requiring medical treatment.
The President also announced that the government is in talks with Russia and India to find vaccines. Russia’s Sputnik-5 vaccine is considered 95 percent effective. And, already thousands of doses have been shipped to Argentina, South America. Barbados recently asked India to send 200,000 AstraZeneca vaccines as that country is facing a growing crisis of the disease.
The President said the government hopes to procure about 3,800 doses of vaccines through the COVAX facility for frontline workers, people with current illnesses and the elderly. Plans are also underway, according to Dr. Ali, to buy vaccines directly from manufacturers AstraZeneca, BioNtech, Pfizer and Moderna.
Health Minister Dr. Frank Anthony, said the government’s preparation for the voluntary vaccination program meant training 35 teams of experienced nurses and other healthcare workers and procuring specialized and regular freezers. He said an expansion of 14 vaccination sites completed this week would be set up nationwide to give 7,000 vaccines daily.
“We have estimated that with these 35 teams that we have, we will be able to make 7,000 vaccines every day when we start the roll-out,” said Dr. Anthony, medical doctor.
The Health Minister said the results of a risk aversion study had informed the government’s decision to develop and implement a risk communication program. “We are ready and ready so once we start receiving the vaccines, we will be able to use them as quickly as possible and in the safest way possible,” he added.
He said discussions had begun with private hospitals and private doctors about administering the injection to ensure they had trained personnel. He said it is essential for the vaccination process by the private health sector to keep records for onward transmission to government authority. “They will have to make extensive records for us and transfer that back into the national program and they would also have to do some monitoring and submitting those records to us and once they are to comply with that, we will be introducing vaccines to them as well, ”he added.
As of Saturday afternoon, the Ministry of Health reported 847 active cases and 176 deaths with the death of a 53-year-old woman from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica).