The United Nations (UN) System in Guyana yesterday called on the government to urgently introduce more stringent measures to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), including barring non-essential movement outside the home.
“We are very concerned that social gatherings are continuing despite public advisories discouraging this for some time,” a statement by UN Resident Coordinator Mikiko Tanaka said yesterday, as she noted that social gatherings and movements of people are the biggest risk in the spread of COVID-19.
“Reinforcing the advice from PAHO/WHO [Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization] Representative in Guyana Dr William Adu-Krow, the United Nations (UN) System calls on the government to urgently introduce more stringent measures to stem COVID-19. This includes work-from-home in public and private institutions except for essential services, limiting people’s movements to essential errands,” Tanaka, who is the top UN official in Guyana, said.
Earlier this week, Dr Adu-Krow lamented that Guyanese are not taking social distancing seriously and told Stabroek News in an interview that he has written to the National COVID-19 Task Force recommending a partial lockdown of the country in order to prevent an outbreak of the deadly virus here. Social distancing is a key recommendation of the WHO to combat the spread of the disease, which has claimed thousands of lives worldwide and continues to overwhelm countries’ healthcare systems even in developed states.
“The UN System stands ready to provide advice and assistance in elaborating and implementing a national response plan that covers the health sector and other socio-economic sectors to help citizens cope with the impact of the COVID-19 response and in particular to protect the most vulnerable. This will build on the critical ongoing support from PAHO/WHO and other UN agencies,” Tanaka said yesterday.
Noting that the COVID-19 pandemic is raging worldwide with 465,915 confirmed cases and 21,031 deaths – an unprecedented scale and speed, the UN official emphasised that Guyana is not insulated from the pandemic.
Even with the five cases and one death up to yesterday, “there is no room for complacency as we have seen rapid acceleration from low numbers in many countries. Prevention is critical and urgent,” Tanaka declared.
The statement noted that the Ministry of Public Health and national authorities initiated preventive measures in late January starting with health and border quarantine procedures. With the confirmation of the first case on 11 March, health response capacities have been enhanced and other measures were taken including the suspension of international commercial flights, temporary closure of schools, border closures and public information and advisories for hygiene and social distancing. The private sector and religious community have started to take some voluntary measures to protect their staff and congregation and to help health workers and citizens. Linden and New Amsterdam have taken the initiative to enforce lockdown measures to limit social gathering and movements, the statement observed.
“We commend the health workers who are working around the clock in a high-stress and high-risk environment to respond to the outbreak. We have to protect the physical and mental health of these health workers and to keep the caseload manageable by stemming the spread. Prevention is critical,” Tanaka emphasised.
