Omicron may have arrived in Guyana more than a week ago

Jan 03, 2022 Letters

Dear Editor,
It is highly likely that the Omicron variant arrived in Guyana at least more than a week ago.  Why? There is an influx of travellers from regions where this variant is surging. Several such travellers are COVID positive and are in isolation in this country.
Also, the number of COVID cases dramatically increased within this week. This rapid transmission fits the behavioural profile of the Omicron strain. We all know that this strain is highly transmissible. However, the honourable Minister of Health seems to be asleep on the job. Up to Friday, he continued to insist that this variant has not reached Guyana. On what basis is the Minister saying this? What is his evidence for saying this? Has he done a sequence analysis to back up what he is saying?
The Minister talked about sending samples overseas only when he feels that the variant has arrived in Guyana.  I also do not understand why the Minister wants to send COVID samples abroad for sequencing.  We can perform our own gene sequencing here in Guyana and this will be far more efficient for patient care. This technology is ridiculously cheap. Further, I do not understand why this government always compares Guyana to other Caribbean countries.
For this government, Guyanese are not entitled to anything the Caribbean does not have.
This is the kind of stupidity by the PPP/C Government.  Why hold this country back and destroy lives by making such useless comparisons?
The Caribbean does not have the great volume and variety of natural resources like we have in Guyana. We should never be struggling to purchase a simple gene sequencing machine with our immense natural resource wealth.
How can this government afford the gas to shore project which runs into tens of millions of dollars but cannot afford a simple machine that costs only a few thousand dollars to save human lives?  Where is the logic?  Where is our priority?  Where is our heart?  Clearly, our wealth is mismanaged and our lives compromised by this PPP/C Government.
Regards,
Annie Baliram

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