President David Granger has approved a range of measures to tackle the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Guyana, which includes mandatory quarantine for those infected or exposed to the disease and the destruction of personal items exposed to infection from the disease, among other actions.
Guyana recorded its fifth case of COVID-19 yesterday and from midnight last night, the country’s two international airports have been shut for 14 days.
The president, in an extraordinary publication of the Official Gazette dated March 16, cited constitutional provisions that provide for the taking of such measures. It was noted too that COVID-19 constitutes an emergency that threatens national security which requires a national response and the World Health Organi-zation has declared the disease a pandemic with Guyana also recording the presence of the disease here. Accordingly, the publication said that the president considers that immediate action is necessary to address COVID-19, which has been declared an infectious disease.