Children to be given priority in post-hurricane evacuation efforts

Minister of Citizenship Winston Felix yesterday announced that priority will be given to children in evacuation efforts organized by the Guyana Government to assist Guyanese who remain on hurricane-affected islands, as there remains the risk of an epidemic in some cases.

“…All priority will go towards children. And I say this to you—what we saw, at least in Tortola (BVI), suggests—because they gave us masks—there is an accumulation of refuse and you could see signs of an epidemic breaking out and, as such, children being vulnerable. They need to be removed early, so whatever the decision is to be taken we’ll have to work with a system of priority to ensure that children are taken care of before the situation deteriorates,” Felix stated.

The minister, during a post-Cabinet press briefing, stated that while adults did not express interest in returning to Guyana, they made known that they wanted their children to return. This was reported on in the Monday edition of this newspaper.