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Health system can be overwhelmed if Brazil’s new COVID-19 strain spreads here – Health Minister
– says borders to remain closed
The Guyana-Brazil border.
Kaieteur News – The Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, has expressed that the government is extremely concerned about the newly detected strain of the COVID-19 virus in Brazil and a possible spread to Guyana that could overwhelm our health system.
During his COVID-19 update on Friday, Dr. Anthony said that the strain that was detected in Brazil sometime this week has been found to be highly contagious, meaning that it is more easily spread and at a rapid pace. That is a health hazard for a country like Guyana according to the Minister. “And if this is more transmissible then more people are going to get infected and if more people are going to get infected then we can assume that we will get a percentage of them – a higher percentage of them coming into the hospital, coming in to the hospital needing ICU care. So these are gonna be the challenges if this variant circulates in our country,” he also stated.
Kaieteur News previously reported an instance when the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, which is responsible for the management of COVID-19 patients, was overwhelmed with an influx of critical care patients but that was remedied when the Liliendaal Infectious Disease Hospital became fully operationalized.
To prevent possible infections from the new strain, the Minister has announced that the land border at Takatu in Region Nine (Upper Takatu-Upper Essequibo) will remain closed. He said that more joint service patrols will be there to monitor the border and ensure there is no illegal crossing at other points of entry.
The main border between Guyana and Brazil has been closed since last March following the first case being recorded here; however, both governments would have approved an exchange at the borders which was noted by Anthony. The exchange usually occurs every Thursday which sees the transfer of goods between both countries. It is monitored by Guyana and Brazil’s health authorities.
The Health Minister also highlighted that the United Kingdom (UK) has banned flights from Brazil and other countries on the continent (Guyana included) after the new strain was detected in Brazil. He said that the World Health Organization suspects that the new strain might already be in other countries on the continent. Additionally, Deputy Director of Research at Brazil’s state-run Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Felipe Naveca, said the new variant was concerning and its origin was “undoubtedly” from the Amazon region. Besides Brazil, new strains of the virus have been found in the UK and South Africa.
So far Guyana cannot test for the new variants that have been detected elsewhere.
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