The Irfaan Ali-led Government is energising the fight against COVID-19

Dear Editor,
The President, the Vice-President, the Prime Minister and the whole Cabinet, together with other senior officials, publicly tested for COVID-19 on Wednesday, August 12th. While political leaders in other countries have individually tested, it was the first time anywhere in the world that a whole government had taken the unprecedented move to publicly be tested.
The Guyanese people saw still pictures and TV videos of their Government being tested. Very few politicians anywhere in the world have been as open with their COVID-19 testing. One outstanding example was the Governor of New York, who allowed his testing to be broadcasted while he was engaged in a media conference.
The President and his Cabinet had been exposed to COVID-19, and as required, immediately got contact-traced and tested. While waiting for their results, they self-quarantined, in accordance with COVID-19 public health measures.
The President, the Cabinet and some other senior Government officials tested for COVID-19 after it was revealed that Foreign Affairs Minister, Honourable Hugh Todd, had tested positive in a routine testing the previous day.
The Government then embarked on informing the President and Government of Suriname, which had a delegation for the inauguration, and which had several meetings with the Foreign Affairs Minister. The diplomatic corps, many of whom had met with the minister, were also informed. Others who had formally met with the Minister were added to the loop and advised.
The President himself announced publicly that Minister Todd had unfortunately tested positive for COVID-19. It was the President who led from the front and announced that Cabinet members would immediately be tested.
President Irfaan Ali, Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo, and Prime Minister Mark Phillips were the first to get tested.
The response of the Government and the management of Minister Todd’s positive COVID-19 testing are examples of a new dispensation. The Guyanese people did not have to find out the truth through leaks and rumours. They found out from the Government itself, and they found out from the President. It is a new, transparent era. The President and the Cabinet are servants of the people of Guyana, and their COVID-19 status is the business of the people. Alerting the country to the fact that two ministers have now been tested positive for COVID-19, and that all Ministers and many senior officials have been tested, is a refreshing new transparency around COVID-19 testing.
We are now aware that many more tests were done, and many more positive cases existed before the new Government took office. Outside of what was publicly told to the Guyanese people, there were tests done secretly and positive COVID-19 results were recorded for persons who were senior Government officials, but those were kept secret in a cover-up. This policy is wrong. When senior Government officials are tested, people should know. It is expected that Government officials would do the right thing and self-isolate, or self-quarantine. No one would know if such officials are adhering to the public health rules if they are kept in the dark about the test results of these persons.
President Ali has changed this policy, and public officials are expected to lead from the front. Widescale testing is an imperative, and the Irfaan Ali-led PPP Government has set itself the task of mass testing, moving away from the limited testing that was in place up to last week.
Gradually, the PCR testing that has been in limited use will be expanded to between 300 and 500 tests per day, seven days per week. In addition, rapid testing will become part of the testing algorithm. Six months after the first case was identified, the testing capacity is recklessly limited. The new Government has made immediate adjustments to the testing response, vowing to make it wider and ensuring that everyone who should be tested is able to get tested.
In this regard, the Minister of Health has announced that, through the support of PAHO/WHO, extensive training of technologists would be conducted in the coming week, to allow the expansion of the testing capacity at the Public Health Lab.
But the open and transparent mode used to announce the COVID-19 status of senior officials shows a Government which has begun to engage the people in an aggressive fight against COVID-19. The mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic led to people stigmatising testing. The public testing of the President, the Vice-President, the Prime Minister and other Cabinet members, swabbing all of them in a way that the whole country saw, is a way to de-stigmatise and demystify the testing.

Dr Leslie Ramsammy