COVID-19 victims escape quarantine facility

– intercepted en route to Mahdia, Lethem

Four Venezuelan migrants who escaped their mandated COVID-19 confinement upon recommendation by the Public Health Ministry have now been placed in institutional quarantine.
Former Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence revealed on Tuesday that the women were on their way to Mahdia, Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and Lethem, Region Nine (Upper Takatu-Upper Essequibo) after fleeing their place of isolation.
However, immediate efforts resulted in them being intercepted and placed in institutional quarantine with the assistance of the Guyana Police Force (GPF).
According to reports, the migrants were detained on April 11, 2020, after forcibly leaving the isolation facilities in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara).
The women, who hail from Venezuela, were picked up from a city hotel after displaying symptoms of the coronavirus and taken to a quarantine facility but after some time, they assaulted the medical workers and escaped.
After being intercepted, they were handcuffed to beds in order to prevent them from leaving the facility.
In a ‘COVID-19 Response Situation Update for Guyana’ report published by the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) on Monday, it was reported that there are currently four active national quarantine and isolation facilities in Guyana and three planned facilities.
The Georgetown Public Hospital is the only facility with an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for COVID-19, and has a capacity for 16 patients. The other facilities listed are the West Demerara Regional Hospital, the Diamond Diagnostic Centre and the Madewini Youth Centre.
The West Demerara Regional Hospital has the capacity for 36 patients and currently houses 17 while the Diamond Diagnostic Centre has a capacity for 70 patients and currently houses nine.
The Madewini Youth Centre, with a capacity for 132 patients, currently has 8.