The coronavirus (COVID-19) situation in the Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo is becoming difficult to manage.
This is according to regional officials who are pleading with residents to adhere to precautionary measures and guidelines that were instituted to curb the spread of the disease.
In a statement on Sunday, the Regional Health Officer (RHO) Dr Naail Uthman had this to say, “Let me start off this update by pleading with the entire Region Nine to be more responsible. To take COVID-19 a lot more serious. Residents! The regional situation is becoming critical. It is becoming increasingly difficult to manage and monitor the increasing number of cases and contacts.”
He noted that one of the greatest challenges that the region is facing is its residents’ refusal to adhere to COVID-19 measures and he disclosed that persons in some of the communities that are affected by the disease are refusing to be tested.
Further, Uthman said that Lethem and its surrounding areas are becoming more affected. Despite this, many are still refusing to adhere to the measures put in place.
“I plead with everyone, we are in the phase of community spread in Region Nine. Everyone is a possible case until proven otherwise. We cannot be complacent in our interactions with anyone. Social and physical distancing, hand washing and sanitising, using our face mask and limiting unnecessary movements especially to other villages and worse yet to Brazil,” the statement added.
Meanwhile, Regional Chairman Bryan Allicock expressed similar statements and described the increase of cases within the town as “frightening.”
“The situation in Lethem is frightening because the numbers keep coming up now and people [are] still not adhering to curfews. People are still breaking the rules and then there is alcohol usage – people are gathering for birthdays and anniversary and people are still drinking. We have the forces here but they wait until these guys are out of the area and then they continue,” he said.
Allicock said that given the lax attitude of residents he will be writing to the businesses that are supporting those activities and to the village councils to remind them about the restrictions that have been imposed by the Ministry of Health. He noted that if those types of activities continue, the number of cases will increase and the region may no longer be able to handle the situation alone.
On another note, Allicock said that they are trying their best to educate the people about the disease. He said that despite everything that is being done via television, radio stations and social media, a lot of communities do not have access to these things so they are planning to go to the various communities to conduct public awareness campaigns.
There are at 157 COVID-19 cases in Region Nine, inclusive of 48 recoveries and one death. According to Allicock, Potarinau still has the highest number of cases in the region, however, Lethem has seen a sharp rise in cases during the last few days. He added that the community of Karasabai has also recorded its first COVID-19 case.
The Regional Chairman noted that the majority of the cases are asymptomatic and as a result, only persons displaying symptoms of the disease are being transported to Lethem from their respective communities. He informed that elderly persons and pregnant women are also being transported from their communities to Lethem so that they can be monitored.
He stated that under the updated World Health Organisation recommendation for discharging asymptomatic patients, they are to be discharged seven days after they have been confirmed to have the disease. However, Allicock said they do not want to take any chances and so are discharging patients after they spend 14 days in isolation.
Meanwhile, he disclosed that the results of testing of some of the region’s Rapid Response Team are yet to be submitted but some have tested negative and have been cleared. He added that some persons are still awaiting their results despite being tested weeks ago. “Some people are waiting for their results over a month now and it taking quite some time to get and we sent out 285 samples last week and we took eight more samples yesterday and Friday we sending out some more. We have people under quarantine more than they should be,” he bemoaned.
