More COVID-19 measures for Region Seven

The National COVID-19 Task Force will be instituting additional measures in the Cuyuni-Mazaruni (Region Seven) to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in the mining region.

Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony said while the Task Force is not alarmed by the increase in cases in the region, it is focusing on reducing transmission. As of Tuesday, Region Seven recorded 516 cases.

“We have been monitoring the cases and because we have been testing more in Bartica, that’s one of the reasons that we have been finding additional cases. We are going to continue testing. Also, adequate measures are in place to be able to detect and of course, do contact tracing and monitoring,” Dr Anthony said in his daily COVID-19 update on Tuesday.

While Region Seven has not met the criteria for a lockdown, Dr Anthony said more rigorous monitoring and testing is necessary because the area is also a transit point.

“A major challenge that we have is that Bartica is a community where people from other areas especially mining areas, would be transiting through Bartica and, therefore, we can expect if they’re coming from areas suspected to have COVID-19, they can bring that into the community.  So, by the end of the week, we’ll be putting in some other measures,” he said.

Many of the cases recorded to date in Region Seven are asymptomatic, with only a few being symptomatic and hospitalised, the Minster said.

The new gazetted COVID-19 measures released last week Monday announced travel restrictions for the region, stating: “non-essential travel into or out of Region Seven is restricted during the period 01 December 2020 to December 31, 2020, and travel shall only be permitted where it is connected to an essential service.”

There shall be gatherings of no more than five persons and the six feet physical distance between persons must also be applied.

The Regional Democratic Council will be responsible for ensuring that government buildings, landings and means of transportation and conveyances are sanitised.

The additional measures for the Region are being implemented with support from Operation COVI-CURB. (Extracted and modified from DPI)