THE Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has looked into the concerns of the persons who were quarantined on Wednesday night immediately after arriving in the country on a chartered flight from Barbados.

One of the quarantined passengers shared that the MoPH’s permanent secretary met with them on Thursday to listen to their concerns, and has begun to put measures in place to address them, such as ensuring adequate spacing between persons so that they can properly adhere to social distancing.

“I’m very happy; it seems like things will be better from now on. Many facilities are being upgraded,” one of the quarantined passengers shared.

The passenger further explained: “After the PS left, an entire team came to clean out. They said every day they’re going to come; that is excellent. We have proper communication with them now, and they’re providing things. We see that they regretted what happened, because we received apologies. They’re setting up some flat- screen TVs, so we’re very grateful. Things are looking up.”

Family members were also given an opportunity to send supplies to those being quarantined.
Seventeen persons arrived on the flight on Wednesday, which landed at the Eugene Correira International Airport, after special arrangements were worked out between the passengers and the government to allow them to return to Guyana, since the country’s airports are currently closed to international passenger flights.

The cancellation of the international flights was one among a list of measures that the country has put in place to guard against the spread of the coronavirus.
On arrival, tension developed among some of the passengers, their family members and authorities at the airport.

The National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF) reported that some of the passengers attempted to resist being placed in quarantine and wanted to be able to meet their family.
“The NCTF is dismayed at the conduct and behaviour of some of the passengers who sought and were granted special permission to return to Guyana from Barbados… Some of the persons raised objections about not being permitted to ‘see’, ‘hug’ and ‘kiss’ their relatives, who ill-advisedly gathered at the airport at which they arrived,” the NCTF has said in a statement issued on the situation.

According to a family member of one passenger, the issue arose when the authorities refused to relay to their relatives where the passengers were being taken. However, they could not say if some of the other passengers may have indeed tried to resist quarantine.
The persons who came in on the flight noted that not all of the passengers seemed to have agreed to the quarantine before arriving at the airport in Barbados. Nonetheless, he said the passengers were informed of the quarantine prior to leaving Barbados.

“It came with the stipulation that we would have to quarantine, and we agreed to the quarantine. There was a person who said she doesn’t want to be quarantined, and we told her to stay. She’s currently in Barbados right now,” he said.

Though most of the passengers were students, several persons were not. He informed that while the students were told about and agreed to the quarantine, the other persons did not seem to want to be in full compliance.

“When we arrived at the airport [in Barbados], we were told we will be quarantined when we land, and were asked, ‘Are you still travelling?’ even before we hand them our passport. We know that there was a measure of quarantine, however, there were some older persons, and they were telling everyone that they were not told about a quarantine,” he shared.