REGION SIX, East Berbice, Corentyne, has registered over 200 COVID-19 cases, 207 to be exact, on Friday, Head of the Regional Task Force and Regional Chairman David Armogan has reported.

He is calling on residents to do all in their power to help flatten the curve.

“I want to implore on all the residents of Berbice to follow the guidelines set out by the Ministry of Health as well as PAHO/WHO. These guidelines are for the safety of all of us,” he said.

The region is working assiduously to contain the spread of the virus, the chairman noted.

The riverain community of Siparuta, located several miles up the Corentyne River, has recorded the highest number of positive cases thus far — 63 cases while 16 cases have been recorded in Orealla.

According to the chairman, the number of positive cases may increase as results are still pending. In Orealla and Siparuta, some 526 persons have been tested and 270 results are outstanding.

The goal is to ensure that everyone in both communities is tested.

In light of the rise in positive cases in those communities, the Orealla/ Siparuta village council has taken a decision to impose a two-week lockdown on Friday.

Toshao Carl Peneux said the numbers were worrying and he was hoping that the lockdown can contain the spread of the virus.  In the interim, the village council will be assisting every household with hampers containing basic food supplies.

Additionally, Regional Health Services currently has two teams of medical officials within the communities and within the next few days, Director of Regional Health Services, Dr. Vishalya Sharma assured that a third team will be sent in to assist.

She further noted that, with the assistance from the Vector Control Unit, sanitisation is being done on buildings and areas in the communities.

Additionally, the medical teams, are, regularly, on air at radio Orealla, bringing awareness to the residents. Dr Sharma is urging everyone to be responsible and to always follow the guidelines.

“We can only reduce our numbers if we collaborate to change, I urge all of us to please be smart in this, follow the guidelines, and take all the necessary precautions. Clean, sanitise, keep your mask on correctly, and avoid unexpected travels,” she said.
The Chairman is also pleading with residents to comply with the gazetted emergency measures to curb the spread of the virus.

“We need to do that to warn people that they must be careful of going into certain areas or certain places that you could very well get contaminated quickly, that is why we were doing that and we will continue to do that. We will not identify people by name so the identity of people will be kept a secret but the area and the number of cases we will have to declare those because that’s the only way the population will become aware of the gravity of this situation, because unless we put this information out, people don’t understand this is rising. Just imagine from 60-70, we are over 200,” he said.

Meanwhile, persons experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 are asked to call the regional hotline.
In New Amsterdam and surrounding areas, the numbers are 682-3055 or 667-4449 while for Skeldon and surrounding areas residents could call 622-9211 or 603-4332.