The Government of Guyana in collaboration with the National COVID-19 Task Force, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Public Health and the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has brought home 2,006 Guyanese including students who were stranded overseas as a result of the closure of airports over the Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).
A release today from the Ministry of the Presidency (MoTP) said that this number is expected to increase over the coming weeks as the Government continues to broker agreements for repatriation flights.
Thus far, there have been flights from New York, Miami, Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Canada, St. Maarten, Jamaica, Suriname, Grenada and Curaçao, MoTP said.
Chief Executive Officer of the National Task Force Secretariat, Joseph Harmon said the Government is aware of the challenges citizens face while they are stranded overseas.
“While we have been working to ensure that Guyanese at home are taken care of and remain safe during this period, we have also taken stock of the number of persons who were left stuck or stranded in different parts of the world. Some were without financial and other support, while others had family emergencies and other situations that they would have liked to be there for. So, we have decided that we must get our citizens home, but in a manner that still ensures we follow all the necessary protocols and does not jeopardise the health and wellbeing of any one or everyone,” he said.
Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) Lieutenant Colonel (ret’d) Egbert Field, said the GCAA has been working around the clock to ensure that citizens are able to return home while reducing the risk to other travellers and Guyanese at home.
Field noted that the GCAA works closely with the Ministry of Public Health to ensure that the PCR tests are genuine and valid before passengers are given the go-ahead to travel. He noted that once this is done, the approved list is then sent off to the airline. The airline must then make contact with the approved persons so they can buy their tickets.
“The airline cannot sell a ticket to anyone outside of that approved list because everyone on that approved list would have gone through a process to ensure they are safe to travel. That is why we have such a stringent system in place. It is to ensure that someone cannot just go and purchase a ticket without undergoing the health and other checks that are in place. We have to ensure every citizen is safe guarded,” he said.
Incoming passengers were happy to be home.
William Wilson, who arrived on a Caribbean Airlines flight out of Trinidad and Tobago said, “It has been a very stressful time but I am very happy to be home.”
Pennyann John was slated to return home since March 24, 2020. On her arrival at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri she said, “It is so good to be back home. I feel so happy to be home. I was just out for two weeks in March and the borders closed and I have been away for all this time. It was rough time, but I am so pleased to be back home.”
