Regional Chairman Bryan Allicock believes removing gold mining as an essential service would help contain the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Region Nine and he says recent cases in the North Rupununi have originated from a mining area in Region Eight.
According to the Regional Executive Officer (REO) of Region Nine Carl Parker, there are 36 active cases of COVID-19 in the region.
Parker told Stabroek News that the region has recorded a total of 41 cases. However, four persons have since recovered while one person has died. The communities that have recorded COVID-19 cases are Potarinau, Quiko, Katuur, Sand Creek, and Baitoon in the South Central Rupununi and Aranaputa, Annai and Wowetta in the North Rupununi.
Lethem has also recorded a number of cases. However, there are no active cases from the town as of yesterday, although patients from the Indigenous communities are being kept at the isolation facilities in the town.
In a telephone interview with Stabroek News, Allicock stated that while the cases in the South Central Rupununi are as a result of the close proximity between the indigenous villages and the Brazilian border, the cases in the North Rupununi have originated from gold mining areas in Region Eight. He added that since the closing of the Guyana/Brazil border, Brazilians have been illegally entering the country via various unconventional border crossings, thus the increase in COVID-19 within the region. This, he says is and has always been a challenge to Regional authorities.
In the South Central Rupununi, the cases are imported from neighbouring Brazil, which have recorded more than two million cases to date.
Parker had previously said that persons living in those communities have been encouraging their relatives to return from Brazil and when Village Councils were made aware of the situation, the families would usually hide their relatives away. However, the Rapid Response Team was able to have those persons quarantined and later tested for the disease. Hence, the confirmation of cases in the South Central Rupununi.
Additionally, Parker had accused residents of smuggling foreigners to gold mining areas, especially Brazilians and Venezuelans.
According to Allicock, this matter has become more challenging after it was revealed that the persons in the North Rupununi had contact with Brazilians at a mining area in Region Eight. He disclosed that a businessman in Aranaputa is among the four COVID-19 cases in the community and that the businessman has a shop at the mining area and sends employees to work there on a rotational basis.
He stated that the first two COVID-19 cases within that community were two of the businessman’s employees, who were tested after returning from the gold mines. Considering that they worked at the businessman’s shop in Aranaputa as well, Allicock added, they were in contact with persons from Annai and Wowetta, who have since tested positive for the disease.
“The businessman’s family has not tested positive, only their workers in Aranaputa but the husband and wife were in contact and they are part of the four [positive cases] in Aranaputa. The cases in Annai [and] Wowetta [are] people who would go and shop at the businessman in Aranaputa,” he revealed.
A sharp rise in the price for gold internationally has fuelled an upsurge in mining. After the rise in COVID-19 cases here, the government on July 3rd locked down Aranka/Arangoy Landing in Region Seven. No other area has since been locked down.
Slipping through
Allicock noted that the cases in the North Rupununi have highlighted one of the main concerns in the Rupununi region—continuous illegal entry by Brazilians into the country.
“The Brazilians are still travelling and not only to areas in Region Nine, all of the country. We try to stop them but they are slipping through our nets and they are going to the mining areas in the country. We intercepted them twice at the gate constructed at Bina Hill and we put them on a vehicle and deported them back to Brazil,” he said.
Further, he revealed that buses that traverse the Lethem to Georgetown route are aiding in transporting those foreigners to their various destinations.
Allicock added that although village councils have established gates and checkpoints, bus drivers would usually tell the Brazilians to disembark the buses at a certain point and have them walk around the gates and checkpoints. They would then pick them up some distance away from the respective checkpoints.
“These are what we are facing here and it’s a difficult thing to control because of our ma-power. We don’t have enough persons to patrol various areas on a regular basis, which needs to happen, but we don’t have the manpower because we have another situation to deal with here on the border since we have to patrol over 150 kilometers of border. So how can we control that?” he asked.
He noted that the Regional Task Force has discussed the situation many times at their meetings and has even met with Brazilian law enforcement personnel and the Mayor of the bordering town, BomFim. He noted that the Brazilian authorities have plainly stated that they, too, can’t cope with what is happening in their country and are in no position to offer further assistance to Guyana. However, he said, the Brazilian military has reported that they are patrolling the Takutu River by boat and sometimes use drones to assist in that regard. With the aerial footage they have acquired, Allicock further revealed, the military has discovered various illegal crossings that persons use to enter or leave both countries. However, several of these crossings cannot be accessed by vehicles on the Guyana end due to the weather.
Because of mining
Meanwhile, Allicock stated that in order to contain the spread of the virus within the communities that have recorded cases, mining would have to be removed as an essential service. He noted that the Brazilians that are entering the country illegally are heading to mining areas and infecting others. “This is happening because mining is going on and they crossing at the illegal points with all their equipment because at this time we can’t patrol those areas and vehicles can get to that area now because of the weather. They are taking advantage of that and they are coming over with all their mining equipment,” he said.
The South Rupununi District Council (SRDC) has been calling on the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) to remove gold and diamond mining from the list of essential services since the outbreak of COVID-19 began in Guyana. However, to date their request has not been acknowledged even as they have recently reported that foreigners are being smuggled into the Marudi mining area, which is located in the Deep South Rupununi sub-district.
The Amerindian People’s Association (APA) also believes that the removal of gold/diamond mining from the list of essential services is critical in helping to contain the spread of the disease within indigenous communities. The APA GIS specialist, Ron James, told this newspaper that the organisation has been advocating for gold mining operations to be ceased during the pandemic. He noted that the APA has written to the National COVID-19 Task Force recommending this measure be instituted and has detailed why the organisation has made that recommendation.
James added that due to gold mining being an essential service, many persons have been breaching checkpoints and gates that Indigenous communities have established at the entrance of their respective communities.
Commenting on the COVID-19 situation in Region Nine, James stated that the APA is hoping that the MoPH will consider the organisation’s recommendation for the increase in COVID-19 testing within the indigenous communities that are affected.
On the other hand, Allicock noted that the village councils are doing their best and given the situation in the South Central Rupununi, they are asked to monitor and control the residents of their communities in order to stop the spread of the disease.
He added that the Regional Task Force has tripled its efforts in its public awareness campaigns and has even employed persons to visit people in various indigenous communities to explain the seriousness of the virus.
Meanwhile, Parker yesterday revealed that health officials have begun the “aggressive” contact tracing of persons who would have been in contact with the persons who were confirmed to have the disease on Sunday and Monday. The persons who are COVID-19 positive, he added, will be transported from their respective villages to an isolation facility in Lethem.
In this regard, he said, the isolation facility they have established is overwhelmed and is one of the immediate issues they would have to tackle considering that the region is expecting an increase in COVID-19 cases.
“With these new cases, we are finding it very difficult to find isolation facilities and that is what we have to discuss. We have some of options but we would have to have those recommendations coming from the Regional Health Emergency Operation Committee”, he added.
