Repatriated Guyanese woman tests positive for COVID-19

A Guyanese woman who was recently repatriated has tested positive for COVID-19.

The News Room understands that she was attached to the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line and returned to Guyana on June 19, 2020.

She resides in Linden, Region 10.

Regional Executive Officer for Region 10, Orrin Gordon told the News Room Sunday that the woman was tested about 10 days ago.

She is now Linden’s 11th confirmed case.

“This case is of major concern to us because we want to how this happened in a short space of time,” Gordon stated.

The contact tracing is being done at the national level to figure out if it was imported case.

Gordon explained that the Region is taking no chances and sought permission from the National COVID-19 Task Force to have returning Guyanese from Linden be tested on arrival. Permission was also sought to have these persons quarantined institutionally, rather than the mandatory seven-day home quarantine on arrival.

“Once you are coming to Region 10 we want you to be quarantined in our facility to make our situation safer but we still can’t go ahead and do anything unless we get permission from the National Task Force,” Gordon said.

Meanwhile, the Region has since decided to compile a list of those who returned and have them tested.

Over 1,000 Guyanese have been repatriated but Gordon could not say how many are from Region 10.

“We are working with those which were given to us and we started to call and ask that they be tested and we are working with them,” Gordon told the News Room Sunday.

The Regional Health and Emergency Committee weeks ago expressed grave concern that residents continue to disregard the measures in place to curb the spread of the disease.

A stringent contact tracing initiative was put in place after the mining town recorded its first COVID-19 death early in April.

Linden with a population of over 30,000 is one of the two towns which implemented a strict regional curfew to protect citizens against COVID-19. A screening site was also set up to monitor everyone entering and leaving the region.

Guyana on July 11, 2020 recorded 291 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 148 recoveries and 17 deaths