For days, Guyana’s coronavirus counter has been frozen at five. It would mean that this country is a lonely outlier in the infection growth patterns seen in dozens of other countries. The problem is that the authorities here have not been doing any significant testing and community spread could have been occurring over the last week or so. The only way to determine the extent of infections is to test. It boggles the mind as to why the authorities have not undertaken large-scale testing in the locales where the family of patient zero inhabited and mingled.
More than 1,000 testing kits were handed over yesterday to the government by PAHO/WHO and this adds to the 700 that were already on hand. The authorities must immediately undertake 700 or 800 tests of persons in communities which may have had contact with patient zero and her family. Passengers who travelled with patient zero and their families should also be tested. This is a matter of grave importance and the authorities must not tarry from discharging their obligations in limiting the spread of COVID-19.
