PAHO/WHO warns against lifting COVID-19 curfew too early

The Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) is warning Guyana against lifting too early the curfew and restriction measures currently in place to curb the spread of the COVID-19 disease.

The body notes that that action could result in an exponential spike in the number of cases here.
Guyana recorded its first COVID-19 case on March 11 with the death of a 52-year-old woman who died days after returning from New York. ‘Patient zero’, as she is referred to, is considered an imported case.
Days later, the Government closed Guyana’s borders, including its two international airports, until May 1, 2020. To further prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Public Health Ministry issued a series of emergency measures on April 3, including social distancing restrictions. These measures are to be in place until May 1, 2020.
To date, the country has confirmed 63 positive Coronavirus cases, and a total of six persons have died. Nine persons who were infected with the deadly virus, at least five of whom are related to ‘patient zero’, have since recovered.
Of the 63 cases, the Ministry said, four are imported while the other 59 are locally transmitted cases.
However, according to PAHO/WHO Country Representative Dr William Adu-Krow, these numbers can spike if the emergency measures are lifted too soon.
“If, at May 1, the Government relaxes all the curfew and everything…it begins an exponential rise (in the number of Coronavirus cases),” Dr Adu-Krow said during a virtual press conference on Friday. In fact, he noted that if the measures are lifted as scheduled, then by mid-May there could be as many as 5000 cases in the country.
Last month, PAHO/WHO had projected that Guyana would record some 20,000 cases of COVID-19 infection. But the PAHO/WHO Country Representative explained that this projection was in the event that the country did nothing to curb the spread.
He noted that implementation of the curfews and restrictions has saved some 240 persons from contracting the virus, and at least 25 deaths were prevented. It was projected that by April 15, there would have been 295 recorded.
To this end, Dr Adu-Krow contended that the enforcement of this curfew and these restrictions should continue, in order to limit the spread of the virus. He added that given the fact that Guyana’s measures are not as stringent as what obtains in other countries, there needs to be better policing of the curfew and restrictions to ensure compliance by the public.
“So, we need to take…more seriously that (it) is not time as a community that we lift these [measures]” he asserted.
According to the PAHO/WHO Representative, the curfew and restrictions can only be lifted if certain criteria are met. These include: transmission is controlled; health system capacities are in place to detect, test, isolate and treat every case; outbreak risks in health settings are minimalised; preventative measures are implemented in social settings, such as schools and workplaces; importation risks can be managed; and communities are fully educated, engaged and empowered to adjust to the “new norm”.
Nevertheless, PAHO/WHO continues to lend support and assistance to the Guyana Government to aid its fight against this life-threatening disease. It has already donated 1,800 testing kits and several ventilators, with more on the way.
Further, he noted that Guyana has identified medical experts in eight fields that would be needed if the country’s cases surge exponentially. These experts have been requested from Cuba and China.
In addition, the organization is now moving towards assisting the private health sector. The Public Health Ministry has recently given permission to private hospitals to conduct COVID-19 tests.
According to Dr Adu-Krow, “We will continue to support the Ministry by giving them testing kits, so that we can test as many people that needs to be tested. Now the Ministry has also agreed that they will give some of these testing kits to some of these private entities if they will go by the guidelines that we have… So, we are prepared to assist. The only thing is that the private entities will have to go by the standards that we have set up for Government.”
The PAHO/WHO Representative added that they are also prepared to train private lab technicians, as was done at the National Reference Laboratory, to ensure that there is the same quality of results.