Guyana suspends flights to/from Brazil

In addition to closing the Takutu River Bridge, which links Guyana to Brazil, the government has now suspended flights to and from Brazil.

Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony, during Friday’s daily COVID-19 update, said the suspension is part of continuous efforts to guard against the spread of the new highly transmissible COVID-19 variant which has been recorded in Brazil.

“As we tighten up the land border, we also want to make sure that, for now, we restrict flights coming from Brazil to Guyana and vice versa; so now all flights are restricted because we want to know more about the new variant before we can make other pronouncements,” the Health Minister said.

The Minister explained that the authorities will evaluate the situation and determine when flights will be resumed.

Meanwhile, Guyana and Brazil will continue to allow for the once-weekly passing of goods between the two countries – an exercise that the Minister assured is properly supervised by the health authorities on both sides.

“That is going to continue where we are going to allow that exchange with goods and services but we are going to tighten up the regime in how we are doing that,” the Minister said.

Dr Anthony said there will also be increased patrol at the border to deter persons from crossing illegally.

New variants of COVID-19 have also been identified in the UK and South Africa, with many countries imposing restrictions on arrivals from both nations.

The BBC on Friday reported that these new variants are more infectious than the original one that started the pandemic.

There is some evidence that a variant now dominant in the UK may be more deadly too.