Guyana’s COVID-19 cases continue to increase even as the construction of the country’s Infec-tious Diseases Hospital nears completion.
Five new cases of the Novel Coronavirus Disease were recorded yesterday which took Guyana’s total confirmed cases up to 235. Of the new cases, three are from Region One and the other two are from Regions Seven and Nine. One hundred and twenty-nine persons were tested as the National Public Health Reference Laboratory resumed operations following a pause over the weekend for maintenance. With that a total of 2,552 persons have been tested in Guyana so far.
There are currently 109 active cases who are all in institutional isolation while some 114 persons have so far recovered from the virus. Eighteen persons are in institutional quarantine and one person remains in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit.
During the Ministry of Public Health’s update yesterday, the Chief Medical Officer, Dr Shamdeo Persaud noted that officials observed over the weekend a number of persons not adhering to the COVID-19 safety guidelines.
“It is quite obvious that all our messages are falling on deaf ears” Dr. Persaud lamented, while adding that the young people are of the opinion that they can do what they feel as they believe that COVID-19 is a hoax and that they cannot be infected. “Do we have to see our citizens dropping and dying on the road before we take COVID-19 seriously?” he asked, as he again appealed to “doubting Thomases” to adhere to the emergency measures as the Coronavirus is real.
Persons were seen at the Kitty seawall without masks on Sun-day in close proximity to each other during the curfew hours.
As the number of cases continues to grow, health facilities have seen an influx of patients. Works which began in April at the former Ocean View International Hotel at Liliendaal along the East Coast Demerara are nearing completion.
The former hotel was chosen by the Government to be transformed and used as a dedicated facility for the isolation, quarantine or medical treatment of COVID-19 patients. During a site visit to the facility on Monday by health officials, the Chief Medical Officer stated that the purpose of the facility is to centralize all of the care services for COVID-19 patients. “As we get over this pandemic and we move into other phases, (we would) probably modify this facility so that it can handle any infectious disease that might arise”, the Chief Medical Officer added.
He stated that the plan is for the facility to handle three categories: persons who are infected and suffering with the signs and symptoms of the virus, those who are infected but remain asymptomatic and persons who are suspected cases and need to be quarantined. “There are three different levels of care that will be offered”, he said. He added that the progress of the work at the facility has been commendable.
The facility may be completed by August and is expected to house over two hundred patients at maximum capacity. According to a consultant to the project, Orin Boyce, to refurbish a facility like that would usually take six months even as he noted that the work for the facility was separated into eight lots as a number of contractors are working on the project. Boyce said the fact that they may complete this project in just over three months is monumental.
The project has raised serious questions over accountability and value for money.
