– Minister Anthony says Kwebanna outbreak will be controlled in two weeks
By Vishani Ragobeer
WITH Region One (Barima-Waini) becoming a hotspot for COVID-19 infection, Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony said that greater focus will be placed on mitigating the spread of the virus in that region.
In an exclusive interview with the Guyana Chronicle recently, Dr. Anthony highlighted that Region One has been closely monitored by Guyana’s COVID-19 Task Force. It became increasingly important to monitor this region given the spike in the number of cases observed in Kwebanna, a small satellite community with a population of less than 1,000.
“We have already sent in a team. We did (testing for COVID-19); we’ve been able to identify most of the cases in that community and we’ve isolated them,” Dr. Anthony said.
He added: “We already have a village lockdown restricting people from coming in, and, in a couple of weeks, in two weeks or so, they should be good.”
Kwebanna, which is located east of the frequented community of Kumaka in the Moruca sub-district, recorded its first case on September 19. Since then, the number of positive cases of COVID-19 has rapidly increased; there are now more than 50 confirmed cases and two deaths. The community is now on a 14-day lockdown.
Placing more persons in institutional quarantine, closer to the hospital, has been one corrective measure employed, according to the Minister. At-risk persons are also being closely monitored so that if there is any deterioration of their condition, they can be easily moved to the hospital for better clinical care.
Toshao of Kwebana and Vice-Chairman of the National Toshaos Council (NTC), Paul Pierre, during a telephone interview with the Guyana Chronicle on Saturday, related that the nearest hospital is the Kumaka District hospital. It takes about one hour to drive there.
The persons with more severe conditions have been in institutional quarantine in regional institutions, such as the Amerindian Hostel, located in the sub-district. While many residents were not adhering to the COVID-19 guidelines such as wearing masks and maintaining a physical distance, now Dr. Anthony related that there seems to be an improvement.
Even so, for two weeks, no one will be allowed to enter or exit the village, unless authorised by the relevant authorities. This and other measures will be supervised and implemented by regional authorities and the Guyana Police Force (GPF).
CONFIDENT
This spike in Kwebanna has not been the first one in Region One. Several months ago, there was a spike in the number of cases in the Moruca sub-district. But, Dr. Anthony remains confident that the situation will be readily curtailed.
The National COVID-19 Task Force has daily meetings where the situation for the past 24 hours is reviewed. This includes tracking how many cases there are and where these are located. Armed with this information, Dr. Anthony affirmed that the spikes can be better managed.
When these spikes are flagged, the Regional Health Authorities are tasked with rapid response, and only if the local team will be overwhelmed will the Health Ministry send in additional resources.
“We know where these cases are and that is why we’ll know whether to discharge them, or move them into hospitals,” Dr. Anthony stated.
There was a spike in the number of positive cases in Region Nine recently, and, with targeted intervention, the number of cases is reducing. On Thursday, Region Nine had six active cases that the Health Minister expected would recover fully and be discharged from institutional quarantine.
CURTAILING DEATHS
The task in Region One is slightly more complicated, given the observations made with respect to the COVID-19 deaths.
“Many of the cases of deaths in Region One have actually arrived at the hospital too late so they get to the hospital and some of them die before arrival and some die on arrival,” he explained. It only became known that these persons were COVID-19 positive because the health workers swabbed them and tested them afterward.
The Minister bemoaned that the health authorities did not have the opportunity to work along with the patients and try to assist with their recovery as they were in critical condition.
Cognisant of this, he said that the Ministry has begun engaging the regional authorities to increase efforts geared at alerting persons on the signs of COVID-19 to ensure that each person is able to readily identify the symptoms. This preventative approach is particularly important given that this region is one of those regions where residents may have to travel some distance to get to medical facilities.
Region Four, Guyana’s most populated region, has been leading the number of cases and deaths. With a much smaller population spread across far-flung hinterland communities, Region One has been recording the second-highest number of positive COVID-19 cases and deaths.
Currently, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing- the gold standard for testing for this coronavirus- is done centrally at the National Reference Laboratory in Georgetown. If a sample is taken outside of Georgetown, like in Kwebanna for example, it has to be sent to Georgetown for testing. This process takes time.
To remedy this, the Health Ministry will be using Rapid antigen tests, particularly in the hinterland regions, where testing can be done on-site and results will be garnered in less than an hour. These tests are not at the PCR’s gold standard, but they will help in early detection, according to the Health Minister.
