-exercise to commence today

AS cases of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) disease continue to increase, local health authorities have taken a pragmatic approach to increase the rate of testing by ‘rolling out’ mobile testing units, which will target areas considered COVID-19 ‘hotspots’.

Guyana has already recorded about 75 cases of COVID-19 and statistics have shown that the infection rate continues to rise daily, but health authorities believe there are infected persons, who have not presented themselves to medical institutions.

“We are trying to make testing more widely available and the teams will be going out and targeting hotspots, where they will take samples from persons in communities, where we find there may be people who are at higher risk of contracting the disease,” Deputy Chief Medical Officer (DCMO), Dr. Karen Boyle, told Guyana Chronicle on Sunday.
Guyana Chronicle had reported that health authorities, in ramping up their response to the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, will be introducing mobile testing units at various health centres across the country.

“As of Monday 27th April, 2020 in Georgetown, the MoPH (Ministry of Public Health) will launch its mobile units at the East La Penitence Health Centre. On the East Bank of Demerara at Herstelling; and on the East Coast of Demerara at Paradise, our COVID-19 health facilities will begin to provide services to persons along those corridors,” said Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence, during a virtual update on the COVID-19 pandemic on Friday.

Dr. Boyle, while not directly saying those specific communities are high-risk, said the mobile units are targeting communities where persons, who tested positive for the disease, are from.

“We are going to places where there have been COVID-19 cases before…so we are checking to see if other persons in the areas or communities might have the disease,” said the DCMO.

The mobile units will, however, only be utilised to take samples, which will then be transferred to the MoPH’s National Reference Laboratory- the first local institution authorised to conduct COVID-19 tests.

When asked if the mobile units will be a staple in the ministry’s menu of measures, Dr. Boyle said the continuation will be simultaneous with how long the COVID-19 pandemic is around, since the exercise will assist with getting more persons tested for the deadly disease.

Minister Lawrence had said operations, from the mobile units, will take place between 09:00hrs and 15:00hrs.
In addition to introducing these services at health centres, health authorities will be partnering with private institutions and supplying them with medical supplies for sample collection. Sample collection will be done on inpatients and outpatients, who may present signs or symptoms of COVID-19.

“As part of this exercise, we will also be screening our frontline workers (health and non-health) both public and private across the ten administrative regions,” said the minister.
These measures are being established at a time when COVID-19 continues to spread all across the world and right here in Guyana.

Globally, there are over 2.6 million cases of COVID-19, with approximately 200,000 deaths. And with no approved treatment or cure, there is no assurance that persons will survive after contracting the disease. In the absence of approved medications, governments and authorities across the world have employed a number of preventative measures to contain the spread of the disease.

The Guyana Chronicle had reported, recently, that Guyana is on course to “flattening the curve” and reducing the spread of the COVID-19 disease. This was according to Resident Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) Representative, Dr. William Adu-Krow, who noted that this will only be possible if the government maintains the existing containment measures.

Locally, the government has extended its emergency measures to combat the dreaded disease, with the imposition of a 12-hour curfew on citizens. These emergency measures were taken pursuant to paragraphs (1) and (2) (b) of the directive issued by the President, in accordance with the Public Health Ordinance, Cap. 145, and published in the Official Gazette, Legal Supplement B, on March 16, 2020.

The measures at reference took effect from April 3, 2020, and are expected to last one month, unless earlier terminated, extended or amended by notice of the Minister of Public Health, after an assessment of the prevailing public health conditions.
“The measures in place are working, and individual measures are working too, but we need to ensure that government enforces the existing measures… The few persons who do not go by these measures need to comply; we need to see more improvement,” said Dr. Adu-Krow.
REVISED PROJECTIONS
Already, there have been revised projections which show a reduction in the probable cases, but Dr. Adu-Krow said this new forecast can only be maintained if the measures that have been put in place are adhered to.
Dr. Adu-Krow, with the aid of graphs, showed journalists how the projected cases moved from reaching 20,000 in a month to just under 1,000 in a month, with the implementation of the containment measures. If these measures were to be relaxed, however, Guyana could see about 5,000 cases in no time.