Several indigenous communities in Region Nine will be on complete lockdown allowing only persons transporting food supplies to enter and leave their communities after contact tracing revealed that the region’s first coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patient visited a number of communities in the North and South Rupununi.
This was disclosed by the Regional Chairman of Region Nine, Bryan Allicock, who told Stabroek News via telephone that the Regional Health Emergency Committee (RHEC) held a meeting with village leaders of communities in the South Rupununi yesterday after they discovered that the region’s first confirmed case of the coronavirus went into a number of indigenous villages including Aishalton, Aranaputa, Karasabai and Marudi.
Region Nine’s first case of coronavirus was confirmed on Monday. The patient was identified as Hamlett Da Silva. According to regional officials, Da Silva permanently resides in Brazil, where he got infected with the deadly respiratory disease. After falling sick, Da Silva was reportedly diagnosed with malaria in Brazil and although the Guyana/Brazil border is closed, he made his way over to Guyana.
