SEVERAL secondary school teachers and six staff members of the Kumaka District Hospital are among 19 new cases of the Coronavirus which have been recorded at the Moruca sub-region in the North West District.

The Ministry of Public Health on Monday announced that 21 new cases of the virus have been recorded here in Guyana, and reports from Santa Rosa are that as many as 11 teachers in the area have tested positive for the virus. Said teachers were among a large group of residents who were tested several days ago.

The new figure adds to 11 teachers, from both the primary and secondary level, who have already tested positive for the virus there.

Regional Health Officer (RHO) Dr. Steven Chefoon last week advised that with the increasing number of confirmed cases in the Moruca sub-district, the situation there is now deemed a ‘community transmission’.

The RHO has also requested that the community be put on lockdown for a period of 14 days. “The Department of Education, under guidance from the Ministry of Education, with effect from Friday, June 19, 2020, has closed all schools in the sub-district until the spread is contained,” the Ministry of Education said, and that alternative methods of engagement are being implemented to ensure that the 359 National Grade Six Assessment pupils and 214 Caribbean Secondary Entrance Certificate (CSEC) students are prepared to write the exams.

The authorities at Santa Rosa, Moruca, which is Guyana’s most populated indigenous village, have been facing an uphill battle in their fight to implement precautionary measures to stem the spread of the disease at the village. Thus far, one death attributed to the virus has been recorded at Moruca.

Many residents who are aligned to a major political party have deemed the situation a political gimmick.