Sixteen persons, including six minor children, have been placed in quarantine at a facility in Lethem following the confirmation of two cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Region Nine on Monday.
Two 10-year-old children tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday after they travelled with their parents from Brazil to Lethem in the Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo region to begin preparations for the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA), which is scheduled for July 1st and 2nd.
Regional Executive Officer (REO) Carl Parker told Stabroek News via telephone that the two children who tested positive are among a dozen examination-level students who reside in a neighbouring Brazilian town but go to school in Guyana.
He said that following the announcement that national examinations would be written in July, parents approached regional authorities seeking permission to enter the country so that their children could write the examinations.
Parker said that permission was granted with the condition that the children along with the parent accompanying them subject themselves to a 14-day quarantine at a facility identified by regional authorities. The parents agreed and upon entering the country were placed in quarantine.
Since their arrival, Parker noted, no one showed any symptoms of the virus until the quarantine period was almost up. The two children began displaying mild symptoms and were consequently tested last Friday and were confirmed to be positive on Monday.
The children are now in isolation at another facility. Parker said that the parents were not allowed to be isolated with the children but the health staff are giving their support during the day. He added that a nurse also sleeps with the children at the facility every night so the children can feel safe.
The other persons who returned from Brazil and were in quarantine were also tested but their results were negative. However, they were all in contact with the two children until they received their results and were consequently placed in quarantine for another two weeks. Parker disclosed that the region has a system whereby persons wishing to return to Guyana from Brazil are placed in quarantine for two weeks before being allowed to continue to their destinations.
Due to their contact with the two positive cases, the REO revealed that there are now 16 persons in quarantine, six of whom are minor children. The rest are parents who had accompanied their children. Those persons are expected to be retested at the end of the two-week period.
The REO said that the region has a 6-bed isolation facility, which is in a “very good condition.”
Region Nine has recorded three imported cases of COVID-19 thus far. The first was a patient named Hamlett DaSilva who illegally crossed the Guyana/Brazil border and traversed the entire region before admitting himself to the Lethem Regional Hospital saying that he had been diagnosed with malaria in Brazil. However, it was later revealed that he was infected with COVID-19 and was placed in isolation. Hours later he escaped the facility but was recaptured in Brazil, where he spent the remainder of his isolation period.
A total of 130 persons were placed in quarantine as a result of the first COVID-19 case but after testing was done, the region reported that no one else had tested positive.
