Delta surge: No total border closures – Health Minister

September 2021 has emerged as the deadliest month for the COVID-19 pandemic since the first case and death was reported in March 2020. This is according to statistics released by the Health Ministry. Some 115 COVID-19 deaths and over 4000 positive cases have so far been recorded for this month.

However, despite the sharp rise in cases and deaths, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony has said, Guyana is not considering closing its borders.
In a notice updated on September 20, the United States (US) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has advised against travel to Guyana, and in so doing, has warned that even fully vaccinated travellers are at risk of contracting and spreading the COVID-19 variants. In fact, the CDC has placed Guyana on the highest COVID-19 travel health notice – Level Four – as it believes travel to the country should be avoided, considering the rise in infections.
Asked specifically whether he is considering the closure of Guyana’s borders, given the CDC’s notice and the surge in the Delta variant, Dr Anthony replied, “No”, during Wednesday’s COVID-19 update.
The Health Minister then went on to clarify that the CDC’s notice is not only in relation to Guyana, adding that many countries in the Caribbean are being moved up to Level Four, and this is because there has been a surge in the Delta variant across the region.
He explained that the CDC would periodically do these reviews, which are based on how many positive cases a country has recorded over the last week.
“It is no secret we have had increases in cases,” Anthony pointed out. “So, we have to continue to monitor, test, and once we find people who are positive [we have to] isolate [them], and those who have moderate or severe COVID-19 that warrants hospitalisation, that we are able to hospitalise and treat them properly.”

Guyana-Brazil border
Guyana’s border with Brazil, the country where there has been a surge in the Delta variant, has been closed for about a year now. And according to Dr Anthony, this will continue until there is a significant reduction in cases. He said the border is currently operating under a strict regulation by which trucks from Brazil are allowed to come across on Thursdays to facilitate the exchange of goods and services.
He also said Guyana’s border with Suriname is “in a way closed”. “We have very regulated traffic that comes over, and there are requirements for you to travel to Guyana from these land borders. It includes that you must produce a PCR [test] within three days, and proof of vaccination.”
The Cheddi Jagan International Airport and the Eugene F Correia International Airport remain open. Persons who arrive via these ports must produce a negative PCR test.

Preparing for a surge
Meanwhile, the Health Minister disclosed that preparations are already in place should there be a further surge in cases and more persons require hospitalisation. The Infectious Disease Hospital at Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown can accommodate 204 patients. He said there are currently 151 patients hospitalised, of which 97 are at the Infectious Disease Hospital and 36 are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
“We haven’t gotten to full capacity as yet. We are hoping that we don’t have to be there. Nevertheless, we have been making some additional preparations if we have to go to that full capacity,” he noted.
According to Dr Anthony, a pipe for oxygen is being installed on the second floor of the Liliendaal hospital.
“Before, on that floor, we used to use these 1000-pound cylinders of oxygen. We are changing that, and now we have pipe of oxygen. That work is going to be completed this week. So, we are preparing for if we have a surge in more cases, or more people needing hospitalisation…”
Importantly, the Minister lamented that if this trend in rising cases continues, the field hospital will be set up. He said, “We have started those preparations to put the field hospital in place. With that, we will have an additional capacity of about 60 persons.”
COVID-19 patients are being treated at each of the regional hospitals, and the Health Ministry has announced plans to increase the capacity at all of these facilities.
Inspections, Dr Anthony added, have been done at the West Demerara Regional Hospital, “and we know that we can increase it from its current state to manage close to 40 patients.”
He related, “Similarly, we are looking at Suddie, Region 10, the Mahaicony Hospital, Region Six. More recently, we have looked at Region Nine; we have added an ICU component. In Mabaruma, we are looking at how we can complete it as quickly as possible, because that hospital is undergoing some repairs. At Port Kaituma, we have both an isolation and in-patient facility.
Currently, we have about twenty-something people in that hospital. I think six of them needed hospitalisation, the rest of them (are) in isolation.”

Reprioritised
Earlier this week, Dr Anthony said health care facilities across the country will be “reprioritised” to facilitate the rising number of hospitalisations for COVID-19.
He noted, too, that with the increase in hospitalisation, non-essential services may be closed, so that health workers could be deployed to assist in the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
“So, indeed, we are seeing cases, and with an increase in cases, we expect that we will get more people being hospitalised. Well, obviously, we’ll have to reprioritise, because the more people get sick with COVID, and the more people that are coming down with the more severe form of the disease, we’ll have to reprioritize, and maybe non-essential kinds of services we’ll have to close those and redeploy staff and resources to treat with the severe cases.
“So, we have a number of contingencies in place, and we’ll activate them as is necessary,” Minister Anthony had noted. (G1)