3 persons test positive, 10 relatives quarantined by Health Ministry

COVID-19

…facility lacks basic amenities – sources

By Lakhram Bhagirat

The fight against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is intensifying around the world and in an effort to contain the spread of the potentially deadly virus, the Guyanese authorities have taken the step to impose a mandatory quarantine for all those who have tested positive for COVID-19.
Thus far, Guyana has had four confirmed cases of COVID-19. The country’s patient zero died as a result of the virus.
Guyana got its first reported case of COVID-19 over a week ago when a 52-year-old woman travelled from New York to Guyana on March 5. The woman showed signs of pneumonia and was said to be diabetic as well.
She visited a private medical institution where she was suspected of having the virus, owing to her symptoms, and was referred to the Georgetown Public Hospital where she died on Wednesday last. Posthumous tests revealed she was positive for COVID-19 which caused an immediate panic in the health care system. Further tests have revealed that her husband, child and a relative are all carriers of the virus.
Initially, the Public Health Ministry placed the family on self-isolation. However, there were reports of the family allegedly holding a wake for patient zero, which resulted in a number of persons coming into contact with them.

Mandatory quarantine/four sites
In an effort to contain the spread and better monitor the confirmed cases, the MoPH decided to impose a mandatory quarantine on those who tested positive. They are currently being housed in a facility prepared by the Ministry on the West Coast of Demerara.
“We have had two sets of reports [with regards to the conduct of patient zero’s family] -reports from [the] public where persons made allegations and we have reports from the family members who are saying that it isn’t so. Notwithstanding that we do have within our structure that mechanism to ensure we track [their movements]…All of those person are now within the facilities manned by the Ministry of Public Health and we will continue [with isolation] now that we have those facilities. So as of today [Tuesday] any new or suspected cases, any new persons that would have been in contact or an area where we suspect that they have been exposed, there is no more self-quarantine. Quarantine will now be done at the Ministry of Health facilities,” Minister Volda Lawrence said on Tuesday.
She noted that the Ministry has established four sites for isolation. These sites have been facilitated to deal with persons of three categories – suspected cases, probable cases, and confirmed cases. The suspect category would involve persons who have been exposed in one way or the other to the virus. They would also be showing some type of symptoms like fever coupled with an acute respiratory illness – shortness of breath among others. Whereas probable cases would be persons who display the symptoms of a suspected case but tests would have retuned inconclusive and confirmed cases are self-explanatory.
Lawrence explained that they have the capacity to accommodate 300 suspected cases, 104 probable and just over a dozen person for the confirmed category.
When asked about the amount of persons who are quarantined, Lawrence indicated that she would not release that information on the basis of confidentiality.
“With regards to persons in holding facilities, we would not confirm where or when because this is a very important issue we are dealing with. We will prefer to allow the Ministry of Public Health to continue to work with those facilities and to not put the names and places of those facilities out there,” Lawrence explained.

Lacking basic amenities
Meanwhile, Director General of the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) Lieutenant Colonel Kester Craig said they are aiding the MoPH in providing surveillance support for the operations as well as assessing the facilities. He noted that they have assessed the facilities for isolation and put forward recommendations for improvement to the MoPH.
However, a source close to one of the isolation facilities told this publication that the one family that has so far been placed there has been complaining of the lack of basic amenities at one of the facilities.
According to the source, one of the facilities on the West Coast of Demerara lacks basic plumbing. The source noted that the persons there amount to 13, and they have protested the lack of proper accommodation. The source added that the family reported that in addition to the improper plumbing, they have no pillows and other basic amenities.
Patient zero’s daughter recently arrived in Guyana and she is also quarantined at the West Demerara facility. The woman was allowed into Guyana after doctors in New York gave her a clean bill of health but the USA hospital was contacted by local authorities, who now say that the results may not have been accurate.
Local authorities took steps to have the woman retested but up until press time, the results were not released.
When questioned as to why the woman was allowed entry into Guyana, Lawrence explained that a citizen of Guyana cannot be denied entry unless there are extraordinary circumstances.

Beefing up response
Lawrence noted that ever since they got confirmation of the three additional cases, the response has been ‘beefed up’. She said they have been teaming up with entities to ensure that mechanisms are in place to protect large amounts of people who would frequent those places.
In addition, she noted that they are monitoring medical supplies and thus far there is no shortage.
“We monitoring stocks and supplies and working with our suppliers to ensure that, given the many counties that closed airspaces, our supplies that should be delivered in Guyana here that they can have that free access and flow to ensure that we can get those supplies,” she said.
“We have been able to ratchet up our reach in terms of team that goes out to do visitation and checks. Our Inspectorate Division has been beefed up with several other staff to give a full complement of persons who can assist in sanitising buildings,” Lawrence added.
According to the World Health Organisation, Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV).
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a new strain that was discovered in 2019 and has not been previously identified in humans. Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people.
Common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death.
Standard recommendations to prevent infection spread include regular hand washing, covering mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing, thoroughly cooking meat and eggs and avoiding close contact with anyone showing symptoms of respiratory illness such as coughing and sneezing.
Additionally, the MoPH advises that the only facility in Guyana that is capable of testing for COVID-19 is the National Reference Lab operated by the Ministry.
Local health authorities have advised that if anyone is experiencing symptoms of coronavirus, they should contact the hotline on 227-4986 ext 215 or 624-3067 and a team would be sent to their location.