City Council begins sanitisation exercise to combat Coronavirus

Mar 26, 2020 News

The Georgetown Mayor and City Council’s Solid Waste Management Department began its well-publicised sanitisation exercise at 04:00hrs yesterday.

Members of the Guyana Fire Service washing down a section of Regent Street outside of Bourda Market

The exercise is aimed at slowing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The initiative, led by Director of the Solid Waste Dept., Walter Narine, is being carried out in collaboration with the Guyana Fire Service.
The areas targeted yesterday morning included Bourda Market, and streets in the vicinity, as well as the Kitty/Campbellville Bus Park.
The cleaning was done using water that contained ten percent bleach and ten percent Jeyes Fluid.
“It is just a small step to arrest the spread of this virus. It has been reported that it stays on plastic for three days and new research that just came out shows it remains on roads and wood surfaces for a day,” Narine said.
The exercise will be continuous. “What we plan to do is to wash daily, certain areas in the city,” he noted.
Today’s exercise will be extended to Water Street and in front of the Stabroek Market Square.
Narine related that they are also seeking the support of the business community to keep the exercise going.
“I am encouraging our business partners, if you have Jeyes Fluid or bleach, that you can donate to the municipality. It would go a long way towards the sustainability of this exercise, because this is not something that can be done one or two days; it has to be continuous,” the Director appealed.
The Solid Waste Director noted that due to the current staff rotation policy in effect, there have been a few hiccups with the collection of solid waste in the commercial areas managed by his department. However, he assured that there has been no disruption in household waste collection in the city.