8 Presidential Guards test positive for COVID-19

Eight ranks attached to the Presidential Guards Unit have tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). However, none of those ranks are from the VIP Close Protection Section.
This was confirmed by the Guyana Police Force (GPF), under which the unit falls.
In a statement on Wednesday evening, Police Public Relations Officer (PRO) Jairam Ramlakhan disclosed that the discovery was made during a random testing exercise of ranks within the department, in accordance with the guidelines given by the Public Health Ministry.
“They are currently convalescing in quarantine,” the Police PRO stated.
He explained that while the ranks are all part of the Special Protective Service (SPS) Unit, they are not from the VIP Close Protection Section, whose ranks dress in all black and are assigned as security detail for the President and his family, and for the Prime Minister.
In fact, the ranks who were tested positive are from the uniform (khaki) ranks, and are usually posted at the security hut of state agencies and residences.
Meanwhile, Director of the Public Information and Press Service (PIPS) Unit of the Ministry of the Presidency (MoTP), Ariana Gordon, in a subsequent statement, confirmed that the COVID-19 positive Presidential Guards were never part of the Special Protective Service arm of the Unit.
“The ranks were therefore not responsible for the close protection of President David Granger or his family. The President has been working remotely for some time, and has not been in contact with uniformed members of the Presidential Guard Unit,” Gordon explained in her statement.
These eight COVID-19 cases are not new cases, and have been included in the Ministry of Public Health’s figures which, as at Wednesday, stood at 125 confirmed cases.
<<Guyana Times>> was told that these ranks are asymptomatic, and are being treated at an isolation facility at Diamond, East Bank Demerara.
Earlier this week, the Public Health Ministry disclosed that the Diamond Isolation Unit has, since its establishment, been taking most of the confirmed COVID-19 patients; the largest number being 52 cases at one time and as recently as Sunday afternoon.
At the time of the statement on Monday, it was noted that the country had 61 active cases, but this has since increased by eight more cases. It was stated that more than 85 per cent of the total positive cases in Guyana are housed at the Diamond Isolation Unit, which has recorded more than 30 recovered cases.
This was revealed in a statement the Ministry had issued in response to a report by a local newspaper, which had reported that COVID-19 patients fear that the “poor conditions” of the facility were delaying their recovery.
Nevertheless, this news of the Presidential Guards has raised concerns, especially since once of the groups that have been deems as “more at risked of contracting the virus” is those diagnosed with cancer.
Back in November 2018, President Granger was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a type of cancer that develops in a network of vessels and glands spread throughout the body.
However, almost a year after his diagnosis and treatment at the Centre for Medical, Surgical Research (CIMEQ) in Cuba, it was announced in October 2019 that the Head of State’s condition was in remission.