With Region One (Barima-Waini) becoming the epicentre of Guyana’s COVID-19 infections and lockdowns now instituted in certain areas, the regional chairman believes that there is need for wider relief for residents.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr. Karen Gordon-Boyle has stated that the region accounts for most of the new cases that were recorded in the past two weeks. She further said it is disappointing to note that some residents in the Moruca sub-district are blatantly flouting the COVID-19 guidelines, “claiming in some instances that COVID-19 is nonexistent and therefore there is no need for a lockdown in that district”.
Additionally, she noted that the hinterland poses a unique challenge to contact tracing as addresses rarely consist of lot numbers and streets and therefore working together with persons in the hinterland communities is vital to identify cases, known contacts of cases and even potential cases that might have entered the country without observing the mandatory quarantine guidelines.
No new cases of the virus were recorded yesterday in the region. Regional Chairman Brentnol Ashley praised the decision taken to institute a lockdown, as he believes it will be effective in curbing the spread of the virus, but he said he remains concerned about the survival of residents and advocated for relief programmes to be put in place.
According to Ashley, while some donor agencies and civic persons are helping to provide food hampers, which are mainly going to those persons who are quarantined, there is a wider need for the provision of relief hampers. “I’m very much concerned as I was told — I haven’t seen the confirmation of it — that the total lockdown of the Santa Rosa village in Moruca, will be extended up to August 3rd, he said.
Ashley added that while he has no objections to a total lockdown of any part of the region to stem transmission of the virus, he is still concerned that residents of the region need to be provided with relief packages.
“Many of these persons in these villages rely on subsistence farming, fishing etcetera and then with the cargo boats not going to Santa Rosa it’s another problem. The cost of living in the region is already skyrocketing and this is just going to contribute to the already challenging cost of living that the people are facing across the region,” he said.
He further noted that the government should step in as the Regional Democratic Council does not have the finances to provide for relief programmes in the region.
