Two Grade Six students, who were being held in a quarantine facility at Lethem after travelling from Bon Fim, Brazil, have tested positive for COVID-19.
The two students are among a dozen examination-level students who attend school in Guyana while living in Brazil.
According to Carl Parker, the Regional Executive Officer (REO) for Region Nine, the students were allowed to travel back to Guyana by way of the Guyana/Brazil border in order to prepare to sit the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) exams in July.
Up to Sunday, Brazil had recorded over 1 million COVID-19 cases and over 50,000 deaths and due to the situation local health officials have been issuing repeated warnings about cross border travel.
Nial Uthman, who is the Regional Health Officer (RHO) for the region, said that on Friday, June 19, the students’ test samples were taken, along with other persons staying at St. Ignatius and at the Indigenous Conference Hall in Lethem, where COVID-19 quarantine facilities have been set up. The two common entrance level pupils’ tests were the only ones that came back positive yesterday.
However, when the Ministry of Public Health delivered its COVID-19 daily update yesterday, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Shamdeo Persaud said that out of 21 new cases recorded, “Region Nine has recorded another case positive case,” suggesting that only one new case was from the region. Another case was recorded on May 12th, when a man said to be from Bon Fim reportedly escaped from quarantine and was recaptured the same day. Parker also said he was only aware of one new case being recorded from the region on yesterday’s date.
“What I know [is] some students came across from Brazil. They go to school in the Rupununi and as a result of the exam that they have to write they came across and the usual procedure is that they had to spend 14 days in quarantine. I was informed today by the RHO that after the test, one of the tests came back positive for one of the students,” Parker told Stabroek News over the phone.
Uthman, however, confirmed that there were in fact two cases and both were primary-level students. “The two children, who are preparing for exams, both of them reside in Bon Fim but they attend school in Lethem. We ask that we treat this information with caution and please respect the privacy of not only the two children but their parents as well,” Uthman said during a Radio Lethem broadcast yesterday and later, when he was contacted by Stabroek News.
He assured that the health department would be providing health and social help for both students and that they have been removed from quarantine facility to be in isolation at the Lethem Hospital compound. There, he said, they will be provided with day and night treatment and support by nurses who are working around the clock.
Take heed
Uthman has also urged persons to take heed of COVID-19 measures and stop crossing the Guyana-Brazil border to stem the spread of the disease. Asked why persons are still crossing the border, Uthman noted that the border is 1,100 miles in length and the only measure put in place at this time is a constant advisory for persons to stop travelling from Brazil to Guyana and vice-versa. At this time, Guyanese are allowed entrance to Guyana from Brazil on Thursdays and are immediately placed in quarantine after entering but the police force Is unable to monitor the border at all times, hence persons can still cross illegally.
In addition to the students having tested positive, according to some parents, those held in quarantine have complained about the lack of proper accommodation, facilities and meals being offered to them. One student, who is expected to write the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate, spoke with Stabroek News via telephone and said that the conditions in which they are staying is not very sanitary. He explained that the meals are provided late and often they are cold. He also said the washrooms have to be flushed using buckets.
When asked about his study habits while at the facility, the student said that it’s very hard for him to revise while worrying about possibly testing positive. He also explained that he is even more worried now that the two students have tested positive because they were never separated until the tests came back. “We all had contact with [them]. The place that were are staying at has everybody mixed up,” he said.
Meanwhile, despite objections by the teachers’ union and indigenous groups, the Ministry of Education has proceeded with a decision to have students across the country write the NGSA exams on July 1st and 2nd, as well as the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) exams starting July 13th.
Asked whether the ministry would be making any changes to its exam plans following the revelation of teachers and now students testing positive for COVID-19, the Ministry’s Public Relations Officer Brushell Blackman yesterday told Stabroek News that the ministry would not.
Last week, it was confirmed that 11 teachers from Moruca Sub-District in Region One had contracted the virus. At least one of them believes that the transmission occurred at a meeting the teachers held after the ministry requested that they return to schools for revision exercises in preparation for the upcoming examinations.
