The Civil Defence Commission (CDC) on Tuesday received a donation of several items from the Government of the United States of America and its military.
The donation, which consisted of sanitisation, personal care and hygiene items as well as baby supplies, was valued approximately $3 million (US$15,000).
US Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch and CDC Director General, Lieutenant Colonel Kester Craig inspect the supplies
During the simple handing-over ceremony, CDC Director General, Lieutenant Colonel Kester Craig thanked the US Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch for the timely supplies, which would be used at the quarantine and isolation facilities around the country.
“There are quarantine and isolation facilities not only in Georgetown but you also have on the East Bank of Demerara and in the various regions. So, these items will be used by persons in those facilities to make their stay there as comfortable as possible,” he stated.
The US Ambassador, in an invited comment, expressed satisfaction to be part of the exercise. She remarked that COVID-19 does not “see borders and does not see different peoples”.
Some five days ago, the US Government – through the Department of Defence’s Humanitarian Assistance Programme, donated to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and supplies valued at more than US$3000.
These supplies, consisting of masks, gloves, hand sanitisers, wrist monitors, and other items, were procured locally and are part of the larger US efforts to assist the local authorities in confronting the COVID-19 global pandemic.
On April 23, the US Embassy here announced that as part of the ongoing commitment to Guyana through the US Caribbean Resiliency Partnership, the Regional Caribbean Office of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was releasing US$475,000 to help address Guyana’s priority areas of laboratory diagnostics and systems strengthening and supplies, surveillance, infection prevention and control, and emergency operation centres.
Several days later, the US announced an additional US$1.7 million ($357 million) to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak in Guyana and the rest of the Caribbean.
