Increased sanitisation practices to prevent the spread the novel coronavirus COVID-19 has resulted in a collaboration between the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) and the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) to wash all marketplaces.
The Stabroek Market
Mayor Ubraj Narine has said that this will be done at least once per week. Initially, a proposal was made to “wash all the streets” but this was declined due to limited resources.
“We have don’t have that kind of resources here at the Mayor and City Council to wash the streets…There are a lot of people interacting every day and…it will bring some kind of level of germs free in the atmosphere and where people dwell. I asked for the markets, to which I get the commitment to wash all the markets maybe two times per week or three times a week. That is yet to be decided by the Fire Chief and myself,” Narine said.
He related that stringent measures should be adopted by persons operating public restrooms, to ensure that there are facilities and supplies for persons to cleanse their hands.
“There are people out there who also got washrooms renting to the public. We must pay attention to it. We must put systems in place to have hand sanitiser, water, so that people can use after using the restroom.”
For now, market staffers have been put under strict surveillance to ensure that all hygienic practices are upheld. Presently, retailing at these locations has been limited for two weeks. Restaurants and persons operating food caravans have been warned to practice the prescribed guidelines.
“Markets is under strict management. The administration run by the Town Clerk [has] put a system in place for staff and that took place last week…They can able to have rotations and proper systems in how to deal with the public because again, we got a duty to perform. All activities are suspended for now. We took a decision on that two weeks ago where we halted all activities on the Stabroek and several other areas,” Narine urged.
Hiked prices
However, amid the significant hike in prices for sanitary items amid the coronavirus outbreak, the Georgetown Mayor urged businesses not to practice such ethics. Instead, he called on these stakeholders to practice humanitarian efforts.
“I’ve seen on the news and social media where businesses actually raise their prices for hand sanitisers, Lysol and baby wipes and all these things. We must not go down that road. We must remember we are human beings…I call upon the businesses. I beg of you, if you can assist the public, if you can assist the community or people out there, do so,” he expressed.
This high demand has also caused a significant increase in the prices of the commodities since most pharmacies were not prepared.
However, President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Nicholas Boyer had slammed pharmacies and other businesses that hiked their prices.
He added that there will be no change in the prices of products sold by businesses under the GCCI umbrella.
“The Georgetown Chambers of Commerce [and] Industry for sure have encouraged our members as well as others to be ethical because at this point in time in the population is already in a panic state where people are rushing to buy hand sanitisers, disinfectant spray, mask.”
Boyer further appealed to suppliers to return to the regular prices while noting that the Chamber will be working with the Public Health Ministry to ensure that Guyanese do not fall into a state of panic.
