–Full re-opening of country expected next week

ALL public spaces, religious institutions, and facilities in Guyana are expected to be fully re-opened without COVID-19 restrictions and President, Dr. Irfaan Ali, is expected to sign the necessary order as soon as next week.

“Moving to the full opening of countries to allow for predictability, planning and economic expansion is now the critical path in recovery.

“It is in this context that, in the coming week, Guyana would approach and embrace the full re-opening of our country,” the President said Sunday.

He further noted that: “All public spaces, religious institutions, and facilities in our country can now proceed to normalise operations, while keeping in place all the necessary public health amenities and support systems to operate in a safe environment.”

The President noted that Guyana is at a point in the management of the pandemic where public education, awareness and vaccination are the most effective tools, while certain restrictive measures which affect economic development are no longer contributing to curbing the spread of the deadly virus.

“We must now altogether focus on educating each other as we move towards the new framework of living with COVID,” the Head of State said.

Notwithstanding the removal of the COVID-19 restrictions, measures such as the wearing of masks and the utilisation of sanitisers and sanitation booths at places of businesses will continue, while the government will continue its COVID-19 vaccination drive.

“Wearing of masks not only reduces the possibility of transmission of COVID-19 but also reduces the potency if infected. I would therefore highly recommend that we utilise our masks as far as possible and for those not vaccinated to get vaccinated,” the President said.

This new move will mean the removal of previous measures, including the recently released guidelines for the upcoming holy month of Ramadan which begins on April 1, and allowed for limited participation of Ramadan activities.

The President’s announcement comes just a few days after Guyana marked two years since the first COVID-19 case was recorded and resulted in swift, restrictive measures all across the country. Guyana had recorded its first COVID-19 case on March 11, and on that same day, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic.

The country’s index case was a 52-year-old woman who had travelled to Guyana from Queens, New York, six days prior to her death.

Immediate measures to curb the spread of the virus had included the closure of all schools, closure of the two international airports, restrictions on internal travel and movement, and the implementation of a national curfew, among other measures.

Guyana, and the rest of the world, suffered devastating economic issues, including rising cost of living, a supply chain crisis that affected freight costs and learning loss due to school closure.

Guyana, and several countries have since been doing the gradual relaxing of several measures as the world gradually returns to normalcy, largely bolstered by the implementation of inoculation against the virus.

In Guyana, the country has been seeing the results of the increased vaccination through the sharp reduction in the number of cases that the country has been recording. As of March 11, 2022, 84.9 percent of the 18 year and older population had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 64.8 percent are fully vaccinated.

Some 54,195 persons have also been administered booster doses. In vaccination among adolescents, 46.5 percent of this cohort has received at least one dose, while 33.7 percent have been fully vaccinated.