Main ports of entry to close tonight for two weeks amid Coronavirus concerns

Mar 18, 2020 News

Director General of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) Egbert Field announced yesterday at a Ministerial Task Force press conference that the country’s two main ports of entry – the Cheddi Jagan International Airport and Eugene F Correia International Airport – will be closed later this evening to international flights for two weeks, as part of the response to deal with concerns related to the coronavirus in Guyana.

GCAA Director General Egbert Field

Field said the closures will take effect from midnight.
Field said his department has been working closely with the Ministry of Public Health on the issue. In cases where arriving passengers might have been exposed to the coronavirus, he said that the Civil Aviation Authority has been providing the Health Ministry with the contact information for those passengers.
According to Field, the only exceptions will be cargo flights, planes that have to make technical stops and specially authorized flights.
While local air travel will still be allowed, Mr. Field said those will be closely monitored. Guyana joins Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname in closing off the airports to international flights.
American Airlines suspended its services to Guyana and a number of other countries as it steps up precautions against the coronavirus.

The Cheddi Jagan International Airport will be closed for two weeks

Locally, the Correia Group of Companies, which includes Trans Guyana Airways (TGA), has implemented an immediate and comprehensive programme to ensure the maximum possible protection and safety of its customers and its employees in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as the Group addresses an evolving situation.
The Correia Group of Companies has required all of its employees to attend Mandatory Virus Awareness/ Sensitization Information Sessions conducted by the Group’s Occupational Health and Safety Personnel.
The Correia Group of Companies has made sanitizers and cleaning supplies available to all employees and cleaning staff have been trained. Additionally, all company vehicles undergo rigorous cleaning and disinfecting after every pick up.
The Group is in continuing consultation with informed international and national health organizations to keep its protocols and practices updated in order to effectively confront the threat posed by the COVID-19 virus for the protection and safety of all of its employees and customers.
With immediate effect, all employees and customers entering the companies’ premises are subject to full screening protocols and practices involving a high temperature scanner check. Any person failing to meet the medically required standard test will be denied entry and will be advised to return home and self-quarantine. Those persons will be advised to immediately contact the Ministry of Public Health hotlines (227-4986 or 624-3067).