The Rupununi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) today called on the National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF) to ensure that the Guyana Brazil border remains closed at least for the next three months or until such time as it is safe to reopen to regular traffic.
It has taken this position in light of the rising cases of COVID-19 cases in neighbouring Boa Vista and further south in the Brazilian city of Manaus.
The Rupununi’s first confirmed COVID-19 case was of a dual citizen who had entered Guyana illegally from Brazil. He later escaped from a treatment facility in Guyana and returned to Brazil. A number of persons would have been exposed here to COVID-19 as a result of his movements.
In a release today, RCCI noted that two months ago, the Guyana Brazil international border at the Takutu River Bridge was officially closed to prevent the spread of the deadly disease. Since then, only priority goods have been allowed to enter Guyana on Thursdays, after a process of sanitisation, conducted by the Ministry of Public Health and the Guyana Livestock Development Authority.
So far, RCCI says it seems that the decision to close the border is justified and has helped in a significant way to prevent the spread of COVID-19 into Lethem and the wider Rupununi Region.
Noting that Brazil is now the second most infected country in the world and in the State of Roraima the infection rate is increasing by almost 100 persons every day, RCCI said that on any normal day, hundreds of Brazilians from the Northern States would visit Lethem to shop and return home. These persons, the Chamber said, would not normally be required to undergo any major checks upon entering the Port Complex at Lethem and most times a visual check is conducted by Guyanese authorities.
The Chamber noted that some of these persons come from Manaus, which is almost 1000 km away from Lethem. The Chamber pointed out that Manaus presently has over 29,000 persons infected and Boa Vista almost 2,500 and that hospitals in both cities are overwhelmed with patients.
Further, gold prices are at a high and for many years, thousands of Brazilians have travelled to and from Georgetown and interior locations to work in the mining industry. Certainly, the high price for gold would again encourage them to travel and pose a big risk of bringing the deadly coronavirus with them, the Chamber added.
The Chamber contended that Guyana does not have the capacity to handle any drastic increase of the infection in this population hence the need to ensure the Guyana-Brazil border remains closed to people traffic until the situation in Brazil is under control.
