Joint Services to enforce COVID-19 measures

Mar 23, 2021 News

– persons to be charged for not wearing masks
– non-compliant businesses to be penalized

By Sueann Wickham

Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony.

Kaieteur News – The government is touting more stringent enforcement of the gazetted COVID-19 measures, to ensure that citizens and businesses comply.
Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, made this revelation during a virtual press conference yesterday.
While addressing the recent increase of new infections, Dr. Anthony highlighted that there are currently about 900 active cases and most of the infections have been recorded in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) and Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara). This, the Health Minister referred to as “quite worrying.”
Furthermore, he highlighted that many people are not adhering to one of the most important COVID-19 measures – the wearing of facemasks. At the seawalls, he said, persons are seen in their numbers without facemasks.
In light of these happenings, the National COVID-19 Task Force held a meeting yesterday, which was led by its head, Prime Minister, Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips. It was stated that through the joint services, which includes the Guyana Police Force, there must be increased enforcement since continued disregard of the guidelines in public spaces will lead to increased infections.
Moreover, the Health Minister lamented that Guyana’s COVID-19 immunization programme is not at a level where the number of severe infections can be minimized. The government has only extended vaccine eligibility to a small category of persons, which includes the elderly, frontline healthcare workers and members of parliament.
Dr. Anthony also disclosed that hospitalizations have increased, with 51 persons in total in the Intensive Care Units, at the West Demerara Regional Hospital and the Liliendaal Infectious Disease Hospital (the Ocean View COVID-19 Hospital).
According to the Minister, it seems as though persons have “dropped their guard” but “COVID is not over, we have COVID that is circulating and we have to take those precautions.” As such, he is continuing his appeal for persons to take all precautions.
He stated that more people would be charged for not wearing masks, suggesting that it was a practice that was already being enforced. Up until the Minister’s disclosure, this publication had received no reports of persons being charged for not wearing their masks. The Minister said too that police ranks would be monitoring public transportations to ensure that passengers, especially in minibuses and boats, are wearing their masks.
He announced too, that businesses that fail to follow the guidelines will “see a penalty coming their way.” Currently, the Guyana Tourism Authority is monitoring restaurants and bars permitted for reopening to ensure they maintain the mandated 40 percent capacity and six feet social distancing.

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