Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand in her latest update on COVID-19 tests administered to teachers and students, said that five teachers, two ancillary staff, and six students have tested positive at Bartica, Region Seven.
All positive cases in Bartica are from two schools and the Minister has advised that all positive persons are in isolation.
“While this is worrying, it is instructive to indicate just how many may be asymptomatic for if they were not tested, they would not know. So, to each of us, we must treat as though each person we meet is positive. We must take the medically recommended precautions all the time,” Manickchand said in a Facebook post.
Additionally, days after 16 students tested positive for COVID -19 in Region Nine (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo), when rapid tests were administered, Manickchand is now reporting that those very students have now tested negative.
“Just got the very good news from the RHO that the results for all swabs for region 9 are in and they are ALL negative,” Manickchand said.
The Ministry had conducted testing on all students who returned to school in Region Nine on November 9, 2020, but those tests were initially conducted using the rapid testing method.
Some 16 students had returned positive results and they were further swabbed using the PCR testing method.
Manickchand said several other students, who they also came into contact with, were also swabbed and the results of those tests are all negative.
“You may recall a rapid test was done on all students returning to school and some were positive. The health team then went on to swab those positive persons and it is those results that show negative. Grateful and prayerful that each of that region would stay negative by wearing masks appropriately, washing hands frequently and staying appropriately distanced,” the Minister’s post read.
On Sunday, Manickchand told the News Room that 21 of all returning students have tested positive for COVID-19. That figure now stands at 25.
The reopening of schools on November 9 allowed for some 21,000 students from the selected grades along with Technical Vocational Education Training (TVET) students to return to the classroom for face to face learning.
