–Police, teachers and doctors among those affected 

MORUCA, a sub-region in Barima Waini, Region One, has 63 out of the 109 active cases of the Coronavirus in Guyana. 

This amounts to approximately 58% percent of the cases, and this situation is affecting the people in the densely populated indigenous community. 

Last Friday, it was reported that several new cases of the virus have been recorded at Moruca. Unconfirmed reports are that as many as 14 new cases were recorded there from tests undertaken on one day during last week

The cases included that of a pupil who is preparing to write the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA), 22 teachers, two doctors of the Kumaka District Hospital and other staff, and five policemen, who are all in quarantine. The Toshao of the village is also in quarantine because one of her family members has been tested positive, but she has tested negative.

Last week a man from Mabaruma stopped at Moruca to visit someone and he tested positive for the virus at Mabaruma.

Another male from Moruca travelled to Mahdia (Region Eight) several days ago and is currently in quarantine after he went to the hospital at Mahdia displaying symptoms of the Coronavirus.

The village council at Santa Rosa, which is in Moruca, is receiving support from the authorities in their efforts to boost awareness as well as give assistance in the form of care packages to residents affected by the virus. Santa Rosa is the largest populated indigenous settlement in Guyana.

The residents of the community formed a group on Facebook ‘Santa Rosa Friends and Family’, and have been seeking support in the form of donations to bring relief to the affected families. 

A recent post on the page stated that the response to a food and sanitiser drive has been profound and they will continue with more drives for the people. 

The group is soliciting non-perishable food items and sanitising material. 

“The first set of items that have gone in will cater mainly for the families of those in quarantine and others the Santa Rosa Village Council may deem high risk. Our hampers consist of rice, flour, sugar, milk, cooking oil, black eye peas, split peas, canned foods like sardines, tuna, detergents, sanitisers and toiletries. We need bath soap and toothpaste. For our first shipment we had donations of supplies to the value of about $700,000 or more and cash donations of about $150,000. We need porridge stuff and milk for babies. Five of the women tested positive and are in quarantine, have babies who are at home with family members. They need baby foods. We continue to receive donations. With cash donated, we purchase the supplies that are not donated to meet the target for shipment. We will ship each week until we reach our target of hampers for 500 families and if needs be, we will go beyond,” the post outlined. 

For more information, persons can make contact with Stephanie Fraser, Nadia De Abreu, Graham Atkinson, Murphy Desouza, Miranda La Rose, all of whom are accessible on Facebook. 

To date, 2,423 coronavirus tests have been conducted in Guyana, with 2,193 of those being negative.

The MOPH is reminding persons to continue practising social distancing in the workplace, public spaces, and while using public transportation to reduce the spread of the coronavirus disease. They are also reminded to practise frequent hand washing/sanitising and always wear a face mask if they have to go out.

Globally, over 9.7 million cases of the virus have been recorded worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The United States has seen a spike in new cases while Brazil continues to record hundreds of cases daily.