In the wake of continuing concerns about the breach of COVID-19 measures, the Police yesterday afternoon dispersed scores of citizens who had congregated at the Kitty Seawall as it approached the start of the national curfew.
Citizens within the last few weeks have been guilty of defying the social distancing and social gathering orders and breaching the curfew by gathering at the seawall.
Yesterday afternoon when Stabroek News visited the seawall from Kitty to Kingston there were groups of lawmen ordering persons to remove from the area.
Using a loudspeaker, a police patrol vehicle just around 5.55 pm informed persons that they needed to remove from the seawall. They were also told that if they failed to adhere to the order they would be subject to arrest.
As police made the announcement, many persons jumped into their vehicles and drove off from the area. At around 6.03 pm the seawall was clear of persons but police remained on the ground to ensure no one was left liming.
Director of Operations of the COVID-19 Task Force Secretariat Mark Archer told a virtual press conference on Saturday that the National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF) had given a directive to the Ministry of Public Security to establish emergency response and enforcement teams to address the problem of persons breaching the orders.
The teams will comprise persons from the Guyana Police Force and the Ministry of Public Health. It is likely that these teams will be fully mobilised from this week.
“They will be charged with the objectives to enforce all COVID-19 emergency measures and be deployed in affected neighbourhoods and places like roadways, mining and logging towns, villages from where we’ve gotten reports that persons are not observing social distancing and other COVID measures,” Archer said.
“The Police Force will have to select persons to be a part of teams. And they will be placed in teams in the various police divisions. They will be solely responsible for the enforcement of all COVID-19 emergency measures. Right now, the system is too haphazard, like we just said. Somebody call the police station, and maybe they’re involved in something else or doing something, and it’s all over the place. So we’ve decided to have a singular focus by establishing these response and enforcement teams and hopefully we’ll have a better result from the establishment of these teams,” he further said.
Last Sunday, this newspaper observed hundreds of Guyanese continuing to flout the national COVID-19 restrictions on social gatherings despite a rise in the number of local cases.
Scores of Guyanese gathered at the Kitty seawall, both before and after the start of the nationwide curfew. This newspaper was told that before 6pm, the gathering was larger as some persons visited with their families.
No one was seen wearing masks or practising any other precautionary measures against COVID-19.
During a drive along the Seawall Road at approximately 6:45pm last Sunday, it was observed that most persons had congregated in the vicinity of the 1823 monument at the Kitty seawall.
Loud music was blasting from parked vehicles as persons danced, consumed alcoholic beverages and sat along the seawall in close proximity to each other. The gathering mirrored that of a regular Sunday evening pre-COVID-19.
