After initiating a response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) here in Guyana, the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) has made an assessment of measures needed to flatten the curve.
Head of the CDC, Kester Craig
In a prepared report, the entity indicated that there were challenges with adherence to the home isolation and social distancing instructions, which should be addressed by instituting stricter penalties for violators.
The caretaker Administration had imposed a 06:00h to 18:00h curfew for daily activities through Executive Orders, while essential services would continue operating without time limitation.
With that, it was also noted that the population remains uninformed about the mitigative and preventative measures, coupled with a high level of misconception about the virus itself. It was recommended that press conferences be conducted through the Joint Information Centre, to guarantee authentic reports.
The report spoke about the urgent need for financial resources in order to procure food and sanitisation items for hampers. For the medical sector, personal protective equipment and equipment are needed in their response. The CDC also pointed towards the need for laboratory agents and consumables for testing.
Mention was made specifically to priority actions, which includes retrofitting of identified quarantine facilities, confirmation of households in vulnerable communities and the coordination of press conferences at the National Emergency Operations Centre.
In the past weeks, the Commission has distributed hampers to vulnerable communities and maintained a functioning National Emergency Monitoring System that operates 24 hours every day. They’ve conducted assessments of possible locations to be used as quarantine sites, distributed locally-produced face masks and mobilised volunteers among other measures.
Some initiatives materialised through collaboration with the Private Sector Commission, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the United Nations (UN), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and local businesses among others.
It also recognised the work of other stakeholders, such as the People’s Progressive Party, which launched a National Stakeholders Forum and has been active in the distribution of hampers and thousands of masks to the public.
In most of the ten administrative regions, the regional response would’ve followed with the cancellation of public events, a curfew, training of health workers, established COVID-19 hotlines and designated quarantine facilities.
Public information campaigns, sanitisation exercises at public facilities and the management of positive cases are still lagging.
Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon announced on Thursday that the Government would be putting a halt to the social relief hampers being distributed by the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) since more long-term solutions are needed.
Harmon, who assumed chairmanship of the Sub Committee of the National Task Force on COVID-19 with responsibility for the CDC and the coordination of the social relief measures, made the announcement after he toured the CDC facility.
“We took the view that this is going to be a long-term matter and, therefore, a one-time distribution would not suffice, because, in the long run, someone who receives a package in April would look forward to receiving a package in June and July and onwards. We have thought it necessary to look at this matter in a strategic way and, therefore, what we have asked is that the distribution be put on pause in the way it was going. We are going to put a system in place that identifies … the vulnerable,” Harmon was quoted as saying.
However, the CDC has already collected huge donations of food from corporate Guyana and stakeholders and with the halting of the distribution, it is unclear what will become of same. The Government has also purchased large amounts of goods to be distributed.
