THE United Nations Refugee Agency continues to support Guyana’s fight against the deadly COVID-19 pandemic with the donation of 48 pre-fabricated housing units, the Ministry of Public Health said in a release on Tuesday.

The eight feet by 10 feet units, which can accommodate two COVID-19 patients, have been erected in Mahaicony (Region Five) and Moruca (Region One). According to the ministry, the ‘pre-fab’ units are for temporarily use as isolation and quarantine facilities to accommodate COVID-19 patients where buildings are not available to keep them until they have fully recovered. Currently eight of the housing units are set up in Moruca, Barima/Waini (Region One) which is one of the current hotspots for the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

The Civil Defence Commission (CDC), which is assisting the MoPH with the setting up of these units, indicated that units will also be sent to locations in Regions Three (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara) and Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni) “over the next week”.

The MoPH lauded the UN agency for the timely gesture which is a fillip to local efforts to help boost local resistance against the resurgent virus currently sweeping the globe with deadly effects. On Tuesday, the WHO website said there were 96,286 new cases with 502,278 deaths internationally. Confirmed cases stood at 10,117,687. In Guyana, as of Tuesday morning, official figures stood at 235 confirmed COVID-19 cases with 12 deaths from the 2,552 tests conducted. The government statistics indicate that 109 persons are in institutional isolation, a similar number of persons have recovered and 18 are currently in institutional quarantine. The ministry also thanked all of the partners locally and internationally who continue to contribute to the fight against this disease.