Several hotspots identified in Region Six as COVID cases continue to rise - 152 cases as of Monday night

Several hotspots identified in Region Six as COVID cases continue to rise – 152 cases as of Monday night

Nov 24, 2020 News

Region 6 Chairman, David Armogan.00

Kaieteur News – The areas of Vryman’s Erven, New Amsterdam, Siparuta/Orealla, Angoy’s Avenue and East Canje Berbice have all been identified as hotspots for the novel coronavirus.
Regional Chairman David Armogan during a press briefing with reporters via the Zoom platform confirmed at the time of the briefing that there are presently over 129 cases of COVID recorded in Region and some of the new cases have emerged from the identified hotspots. Presently, there are medical teams in the communities of Siparuta and Orealla carrying extensive testing. In addition, a decision was made to cut off the movement of people from those two areas either by boat, river and land so as to contain the spread of the virus.
“Almost every person is being tested in those areas,” Armogan said.
Additionally, Armogan has disclosed that the areas of Vryman’s Erven, New Amsterdam, Canje and Angoy’s Avenue, New Amsterdam are currently being monitored since those areas have chalked up quite a number of cases over the past few days.
“We gotta be very careful in the Vryman’s Erven area so we are doing more testing there and also there are also a few cases in Angoy’s Avenue and Canje have one or two cases there too”, he said.
In light of the rising cases, the Regional Chairman disclosed that there is presently an isolation facility at Springlands “in which some of the cases have started to show signs, there are some people who are testing positive but not showing signs; they will be quarantined in the Siparuta area and the rest that have difficulties, we will bring them out to the facility at Springlands.”
He added that they are working with the National Task Force and with the CDC to “see what we can do because if we are locking down these areas, we will have to take food supplies and other supplies that the people would need.” Meanwhile, Armogan stated that with the rising cases, the situation has to be looked at in a serious manner and the monitoring of the areas with spikes of the cases will be done. He, however, said that presently, there may not be a lockdown for the region but if the situation continues to get worse, then they will be recommending to the National Task Force to have a regional lockdown. He revealed that the first case recorded out of Siparauta originated from a child who came out of that village out to Springlands, that child he said was already sick and a test was administered which returned positive. It was based on that case that they decided to begin doing mass testing in the village and by extension Orealla.
“As we continue to do contact tracing more and more areas will be identified and if it escalates to a level where we will have to lock down then we will have to recommend that to the national task force. That is the decision we can make here at the regional level”, he said. He disclosed that presently, a pregnant woman from Siparuta is presently hospitalised with the virus at the Georgetown Public Hospital and an 87-year-old man also from that area died from the virus. He revealed that police presence in those areas have since been increased and the regional administration is working closely with the Commander to ensure the enforcement of the gazetted guidelines.
“I was advised by some people not to do this but it is important we do this (highlight the hotspots) so people will know how to operate in certain areas. I think for the benefit of our region, I think people should know where the hotspots are,” he said.
As of last evening, 152 cases were recorded in Region Six.