Guyana health authorities on Wednesday announced the first suspected case of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country and the subsequent death of the woman. This is amidst concerns by some local medical experts, who have expressed doubts about the reliability of the test used. This publication had reported on Thursday that some medical personnel had questioned the trustworthiness based on the fact that it normally takes one to two days minimum to be confirmed COVID -19 and in this instance, the results were supposedly confirmed in a few hours.
As the COVID-19 virus, commonly referred to as the coronavirus, continues to create havoc and spread fear in countries around the world, leading international development organisations are stepping up and are making available millions of dollars to help contain the outbreak of the disease. In addition to the rising number of deaths and infections being recorded, the outbreak of the virus has taken a tremendous toll on not only the international airline industry and public health systems worldwide, but also several other sectors including tourism, business, sports etc.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has since upgraded the global risk of the coronavirus outbreak to “very high” – its top level of risk assessment and has said that there is still a chance of containing the virus if its chain of transmission is broken. The organisation has said that there is a window of opportunity to contain the spread of the virus if countries take robust measures to detect cases early, isolate and care for patients, and trace contacts.
Certainly, this outbreak has challenged countries’ public health systems as many of them are very weak and do not have adequate mechanisms in place to detect or contain the virus if the situation were to emerge. The WHO has since called for US$675 million to fund the fight against the disease.
Already, this week, the UN released US$15M to the WHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to help their efforts to address the disease, and the funds will go towards funding essential activities including monitoring the spread of the virus, investigating cases, and the operation of national laboratories. According to the UN, the focus is on containing COVID-19 by strengthening surveillance, conducting thorough outbreak investigations to identify contacts and applying appropriate measures to prevent further spread.
Similarly, the World Bank Group is making available an initial package of up to US$12 billion in immediate support to assist countries coping with the health and economic impacts of the global outbreak. This financing is designed to help member countries take effective action to respond to and, where possible, lessen the tragic impacts posed by the virus. Through this new fast-track package, the World Bank Group will help developing countries strengthen health systems, including better access to health services to safeguard people from the epidemic, strengthen disease surveillance, bolster public health interventions, and work with the private sector to reduce the impact on economies. The financial package will provide grants and low-interest loans and give priority to the poorest countries and those at high risk with low capacity.
WHO’s Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan (SPRP) for the new coronavirus lays out activities and resources needed by international health organisations globally aimed at implementing priority public health measures in support of countries to prepare and respond to the virus. The objectives of the plan are to limit human-to-human transmission of the virus, particularly in countries most vulnerable if they were to face an outbreak; identify, isolate and care for patients early; communicate critical risk and event information; minimise social and economic impact; reduce virus spread from animal sources and address crucial unknowns.
We have noted that some systems have been put in place to detect and deal with suspected cases of the virus. It was reported that screening is ongoing at the various ports of entry across the country, including the Eugene F Correia International Airport and the Cheddi Jagan International Airport. However, the very ministry officials are now saying that proper screening is not taking place at the ports of entry.
Despite reassurance to the country that everything is being done to ensure that all systems are in place to effectively and efficiently handle the situation, on Wednesday it was clear that this was not done. Persons were ill-prepared at the public hospital with some not even wearing protective gears when the suspected case was detected. We as a nation must to be vigilant and be more prepared to respond to this virus.
