Popular media personality, Mondale Smith, succumbs to COVID-19

Jun 01, 2021 News

By Alliyah Allicock

Kaieteur News – Popular media personality and ‘chef,’ Mondale Smith, has died after being infected with the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) disease. His death was confirmed by officials of the Ministry of Health (MoH) yesterday.

Former Journalist, Mondale Smith.

The former journalist was last week admitted to the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Infectious Diseases Hospital at Liliendaal after he developed serious complications as a result of the disease. Smith reportedly died while receiving treatment and is listed among the country’s recent COVID-19 deaths. Earlier this year, Nameela Henry, another well-known media personality passed away as a result of the disease too.
Smith, who was 44 at the time of his death, was known for his jovial and resilient persona. He was a former news anchor at Prime News and former journalist for several news entities including this publication. He is formerly the owner and Chief Chef of Chef Mondale’s Kitchen and former Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Education.
The news of his death sent shock waves throughout the country yesterday, as hundreds of persons took to their social media pages to express their sympathy to his loved ones. Some even uploaded their last moments spent with Smith and stories about Smith.
The Guyana Press Association (GPA) in expressing condolences remembered Smith for his “versatility and love for journalism.”
“He was known for his many stand-ups and for going after stories that showed the reality we lived in,” the GPA highlighted.
Smith’s journey in the local media industry started in the early 1990s when he worked at the Guyana Broadcasting Authority. According to the GPA, there he produced as well as hosted radio programmes.
The Education Ministry in extending condolences and prayers to his family and friends, said that Smith’s presence and contribution to the Ministry would not be forgotten.
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry yesterday announced that four more persons who tested positive for COVID-19 have died. Their deaths have now increased Guyana’s COVID-19 death toll to 389. This publication was informed that Smith’s death was not included in the daily update.
According to the Ministry, the latest fatalities are an 83-year-old woman from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) and three men – an 81-year-old from Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), a 65-year-old from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) and a 30-year-old from Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo). All four persons died over a two-day period (May 29 and 30) while receiving treatment at a medical facility.
Further, the MoH via its daily COVID-19 dashboard recorded 42 new infections, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 16,952.
A breakdown of new cases per Region shows that Region Six leads with 22 new cases, Region Four with 11, Region 10 with three and Regions One, Three and Seven with two each.
The dashboard also shows that 23 patients are in the COVID-19 ICU, 102 persons are in institutional isolation, 1,916 in home isolation and nine are quarantined institutionally. To date, 14,522 recoveries have been recorded.0