Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan on Wednesday evening stated that drastic measures, which may include the revocation of bar licences may have to be taken to promote social distancing in order to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
Ramjattan made the statement on a live discussion, which was streamed on Wednesday night on the APNU+AFC’s Facebook page.
The minister mentioned that there have been a number of advisories urging businesses and citizens at large to practice social distancing, however, they have not been adhered to by some.
“We have given advisories, yet people are not listening to us. There is this cavalier, carefree attitude. We have to ensure then that if it has to be with certain decrees with penalties behind them, we are going to start doing that,” he said.
Ramjattan then added that even larger countries that have better equipped health care systems than Guyana are having problems, so persons should be even more inclined to observe preventative measures. “We have to be very, very careful,” he said.
“A number of people in Guyana, in the markets, in the bars, restaurants, so many other places are still in clusters,” the minister added.
He then noted that Guyanese have to make sure that we live the “lifestyle change” that has been asked of us by the health authorities. “We also have to do something, some other things… like lockdown certain places,” he said.
The minister noted that the Public Security Ministry had a meeting with the National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF) and a number of “serious decisions” will be made. “We have to take some drastic actions,” the minister noted.
As he kept on the note of having to take drastic actions, he mentioned that he has observed a number of establishments, including bars, still operating as normal. Ramjattan added, “Now I have to do some real hard decisions and start ensuring that the police come with their vehicles, warn them to disperse and we’ll have to probably revoke the licences of bar owners.” He went on to say that it may ensure that persons heed the advice being given by the health authorities as he exclaimed that “a lot of people hard ears and they just don’t get it”.
He then expressed the importance of containing and stopping the spread of the virus as he said that it depends on how individually responsible persons are at this time. Ramjattan further pleaded with members of the public to make use of the hotline numbers provided by the Ministry of Public Health if they or someone they know are exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19.
