AS part of efforts to sanitise the city against COVID-19, the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) in collaboration with the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) on Wednesday embarked on a fumigation exercise at the East La Penitence markets.

According to Officer in Charge of operations at the West Ruimveldt Fire station, Kesney Ewart , the exercise is being done in partnership with the M&CC as part of a sanitisation effort in the city. He further told the Chronicle that the process entails applying disinfectant and other detergents to the surface of the market before washing it down.

“We are sanitising the market using disinfectant and other detergents; we first sprayed the disinfectant and other detergents on the surface then we washed it down,” the fire man said. When this publication arrived at the market, firemen were seen hard at work spraying the walkways of the market supervised by fire and M&CC personnel. Efforts to get a comment from the M&CC personnel on the ground proved futile. Guyana now has 19 confirmed cases of COVID-19, three of whom have died. The latest fatality is 78-year-old Osa Collins of New Amsterdam, Berbice, who died on Wednesday.

This was confirmed by Minister of Public Health the Hon Volda Lawrence on Wednesday. Lawrence, on behalf of the Government of Guyana and the Ministry of Public Health, extended deep condolences to the family, relatives and friends  of Collins. Collins was considered an ‘imported case’ since she had recently travelled to the United States of America.