Laurel Sutherland

All members of Region Nine’s COVID-19 Rapid Response Team have been quarantined after they came into contact with persons infected with the respiratory disease.

Although the confirmed COVID-19 patients in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) have all recovered, Regional Health Officer (RHO) Dr.

Despite various authorities claiming that the majority of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the South Central Rupununi are imported, the Toshao of Potarinau, Carl Albert says that this is not so and disclosed that the cases in the community and in one of its satellite villages are the result of one individual who crossed the Guyana/Brazil border.

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.

Almost two weeks after two new cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were detected in Itabac, Region Eight, health officials are yet to go into the indigenous community to commence requisite contact tracing and quarantining in keeping with established Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) protocols.

The COVID-19 Task Force of Region Nine is very concerned with residents’ lax attitude to the coronavirus disease pandemic.

While novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients who are housed at isolation facilities in the Moruca sub-district of Region One believe the conditions they are being kept in is delaying their recovery, the Regional Health Officer (RHO) has challenged their accounts and says the number of recoveries thus far tell a different story.

A 74-year-old resident of Camp-bellville Housing Scheme who died as a result of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) on Sunday suffered from multiple underlying health conditions.

At least 300 Santa Rosa residents yesterday defied lockdown rules to protest the measures that have been instituted to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

The police will be taking action against supporters of the incumbent APNU+AFC coalition, who breached the COVID-19 measures by participating in a number of protests across the country on Monday.

Residents of the Moruca sub-district in Region One say that the special measures, including a lockdown, instituted in the area by the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) to curb the spread of COVID-19 are long overdue even as they called on government to support vulnerable persons by providing food and other supplies due to the expected impact.

Despite the rapid rise of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the Moruca sub-district, many persons living in the area still believe that the disease is fictitious especially since public awareness about the disease has been limited.

The 21 additional novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases recorded this week in Santa Rosa, Region One, have completely overwhelmed the health system in the indigenous village, leaving health authorities with no option but to erect isolation tents at a sports ground which lacks a water supply system.

Almost half of the persons who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the Moruca sub-district, in Region One (Barama-Waini), are teachers and the Ministry of Education yesterday ordered all schools there shuttered until the spread of the virus is contained.

As she awaits an opportunity to return home, one Guyanese woman has been sleeping at a train station in the United States because she has no money to pay for proper accommodations.

Having spent 88 days so far in isolation after testing positive multiple times for the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a 33-year-old patient is anxious to go home so he can provide for his family, which he says is being discriminated against.

The Amerindian Peoples’ Association (APA) says that the Ministry of Education’s (MoE) decision to hold key examinations in July is further depriving hinterland students of opportunities to have access to quality education and putting indigenous communities at greater risk.

Although Region Nine has no active cases of the coronavirus disease and everyone who had direct contact with the region’s only confirmed case have tested negative, it is still under threat as persons continue to travel back and forth between Guyana and Brazil.

The imposition of more stringent measures by indigenous leaders in their respective communities since the first case of the deadly coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was confirmed in Region Nine has resulted in conflict between village leaders and the Rupununi Miners Association.

Today marks one year since the Empowering Queers using Artistic Learning (EQUAL) Guyana organisation was launched with the intention of utilising art to empower the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities.