EIGHT officers of the Guyana Police Force (GPF)’s Presidential Guard Unit, have tested positive for the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) disease.
These positive cases were discovered following a round of random testing, which was conducted recently on officers of the unit, said the GPF in a press statement, on Wednesday.

According to the GPF, the tests were done in conformity with guidelines produced by the Ministry of Public Health.

Public Relations Officer (PRO) of GPF, Superintendent Jairam Ramlakhan, told reporters that the officers are from the “uniformed” branch, which is located on Vlissengen Road. These officers have since been placed in quarantine. Director of Public Information and Press Service (PIPS) Unit at the Ministry of the Presidency, Ariana Gordon, confirmed that those officers were never part of the Special Protective Service arm of the unit.
In further explaining, she said: “The ranks were, therefore, not responsible for the close protection of President David Granger or his family.”

She said President Granger has been working remotely for some time because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and has not been in contact with uniformed members of the Presidential Guard Unit. While this information was only released to the media on Wednesday, Gordon said the cases are not new and have been included in the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH)’s figures.

To date the total number of persons tested for COVID is 1,295 with the total number of negative cases being 1,170 and 125 positive cases. Of the positive cases, 47 persons have so far recovered, three are in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and 65 persons are in institutional isolation.

Health authorities continue to work towards strengthening the healthcare system to respond to COVID-19 on a long-term basis, and the potential and existing activities are part of the plan to have a comprehensive COVID-19 health network, whereby patients across the country’s 10 administrative regions will be able to access these services.

Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) remains the epicentre of the disease, and there are a number of communities outside of Georgetown which have recorded cases.

Among communities on the East Coast Demerara (ECD) where cases have been recorded are: Atlantic Gardens, Friendship, Golden Grove, Good Hope, Lusignan, Plaisance, and Strathspey. Among communities on the East Bank Demerara (EBD) where there were cases are: Diamond, Grove, Land of Canaan, Providence, and Timehri.

Guyana Chronicle had reported that instead of sitting back and waiting for cases of COVID-19 disease to ‘show up’ at various medical institutions, health authorities have taken testing services to communities which are considered ‘high-risk’. These COVID-19 services are being delivered through mobile sample-collecting units and screening and sample-collecting centres.

These units were deployed to Georgetown; the East Coast of Demerara; East Bank of Demerara and according to health authorities, they will soon be sent to Regions Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) and Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).
“We had a fixed site, where people would go and get their samples taken, but now we have decided to take the services to the people to make it convenient and efficient…the mobile unit is basically a vehicle so we will take it to communities, which are at a high risk and those where there is a need for higher testing,” said Deputy Chief Medical Officer (DCMO), Dr. Karen Boyle, in a previous report.

While the centres and mobile units were established to increase the rate of testing, Dr. Boyle said authorities will not test any and everybody. Persons will have to go through a screening process and meet certain criteria before they qualify for testing. Persons were, as such, asked to visit the mobile unit and the centres only if they have symptoms of COVID-19, which, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) include fever, tiredness, dry cough, aches and pains, sore throat and even diarrhoea. Once persons meet the criteria for testing, a sample will be taken and sent to the National Reference Laboratory, where the actual test will be conducted.

As it is now, Guyana is using the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) method to test persons for COVID-19. And, according to health authorities, this type of testing takes about seven hours to produce results.