The Regional Executive Officer (REO) of Region Nine Carl Parker has confirmed that there have been positive cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) diagnosed in two indigenous communities within the region.
Parker revealed that the five new cases that the region recorded on Tuesday are from Sand Creek and Potarinau, two indigenous communities located in the South Central Rupununi district.
He revealed that a team went into the two communities on Wednesday to transport the infected persons to Lethem, where they will be isolated. At the time he spoke to Stabroek News, Parker said that the team had not yet returned to Lethem. He added that once those persons are brought to Lethem, contact tracing protocols will commence and the persons who were in contact with the infected patients will be quarantined.
Parker disclosed that all the new COVID-19 cases have been imported from Brazil considering that all five patients have returned to Guyana illegally from Brazil.
“It is sad and unfortunate that it has now reached in indigenous communities because now we do not know how many more will manifest from the contacts but it shows that persons have not been listening, not been heeding the advice of the Regional Task Force because every week, every day, we reiterate the need for persons coming across the border and every day on the radio we have been beseeching, begging and advising but they are not listening, they are still crossing the border,” he commented.
Additionally, he stated that with the amount of cases in Boa Vista, the capital city of Brazil’s Roraima state, it is unlikely that a person can go to that city and not contract COVID-19.
He said that one of the Regional Task Force’s main priority was to ensure that COVID-19 does not reach any indigenous communities due to their vulnerability. “That vulnerability comes from their way of life. They are a communal people and we were hoping and planning not to have COVID touch down in any of those communities,” he said before adding that while the Villages had put up gates to monitor persons who are travelling through those villages, the borders are wide. He said that they are hoping that the new cases do not result in community spread.
Meanwhile, when asked how they were able to detect the new cases, Parker revealed that all five sub-districts in the region have a rapid response team, who monitor and encourage residents to make contact with them if they feel like they have the virus. This was done, he said, hence the detection of the new cases.
Parker stated that the region now has a total of 11 COVID-19 cases, inclusive of one recovery and a death.
