Guyana is awaiting advice from the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) as it relates to the new COVID-19 strain detected in the United Kingdom (UK) and flight restrictions.
This announcement was made recently by the Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, who stated that as a result of the UK announcing that it has found a new strain of the deadly virus, a number of countries have moved to stop air traffic to and from the UK.
While he noted that some countries including Grenada, Jamaica and some countries in Europe have done so, Guyana has been in discussions with CARPHA on how countries in the Caribbean should react to the announcement. He also stated that the agency is also trying to obtain more scientific information before a decision is made.
“We have had some discussions with CARPHA and we are trying to get a consensus of the Caribbean position, how to react to this and our advice from CARPHA is that we should wait a little bit to see what is happening and get more scientific information before we make a decision,” Anthony said.
He noted that the Chief Medical Officer has been in meetings with key stakeholders as they discussed the new strain of the virus and some of the scientific information that is available. He added that as long as health authorities are able to confirm some of the mutations of the virus and understand the impact that those may have, then they will be able to make a definitive pronouncement.
“But we will await some further guidance from CARPHA and they have been talking to their virologists as well as virologist from PAHO,” he went on to say.
