A Bartica miner is one of the two COVID-19 fatalities that have been recorded in a matter of days as Guyana prepares to begin the second phase of the rollback of emergency measures that were announced to curb the spread of the virus.
Kevin Ridley, 42, of Albouystown was recorded as the thirteenth coronavirus fatality in the country after he passed away on Monday at the Georgetown Public Hospital. He was announced as a COVID-19 fatality two days after.
According to information received, he was taken to Accident and Emergency Unit on Monday and was then referred to the COVID-19 Unit. It was further revealed that subsequent to that he was swabbed and died shortly after.
The fourteenth COVID-19 fatality was yesterday afternoon confirmed and was then identified as 34-year-old Abdool Khan, of Bartica, who was a father of three and a businessman. His death marks the first fatality for Region Seven.
His brother, Ayube Khan, related to this newspaper that his younger brother Abdool possibly contracted the virus when he went back into the interior to work following a two-month break as a result of COVID-19. He noted that after he spent so much time at home there was a need for Abdool to get back to work to provide for his family. The senior Khan stated that during his brother’s first trip to the interior, he fell ill and thought he contracted malaria, which he did not think too much of. “He was home over two months frustrated. He go out back and do something and that’s what happened,” he said.
Khan returned to Bartica from the interior around June 18th and went to the hospital. He was then sent home as there was no place at that time to house him in the hospital and as a result a number of family members quarantined themselves due to the possibility of being exposed to the virus, including his wife. At that time he was only exhibiting symptoms of malaria. “He wasn’t coughing or sneezing or anything like that. When he get extremely weak is then he come out,” the brother said.
The senior Khan explained that no other family member has exhibited any signs or symptoms of the virus and following a first test they all came back negative, except for a three-year-old. As a result, he noted that family members are actively practicing physical distancing as much as possible while the three-year-old is kept on another flat of the home and being taken care of. “We’re still taking precautions, even though we’re together we still not touching each other and so on. If people bring stuff for us, we tell them leave it outside,” he said.
When Khan was transferred from Bartica to Georgetown, he was then admitted to the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU), where a number of tests were done and he was treated. However, he apparently had underlying conditions. “He had other complications; the same malaria, he sugar raise, probably COVID brought it up because he never knew he was suffering with that,” the senior Khan explained.
Additionally, he noted that his brother had a form of leukemia for which he had been treated overseas some years ago. “It was a form of leukemia, but he had it recovered ’cause since about 2012 he was treated for that,” he said.
As a result, he believes that his brother’s immune system could not properly fight the virus. “It done hard to lose the smallest brother and then you can’t be around him to see how he bury, couldn’t even be around to see how he was doing, talk to he or nothing at all,” he lamented, while noting that it was really hard to deal with as most of the immediate family members are in quarantine.
Additionally, he mentioned that persons in the town are discriminating against the family and acting as if Khan was the person to “bring COVID-19 to Bartica,” which he noted is untrue. “They done holding he responsible for bringing it to Bartica but that is not true,” he said, while explaining that there are many ways to access the Aranka mining area and that is possibly how the virus was brought into the region through one of the many routes. “He was home all the time for two months and soon as he go up there he start feel sick, so it’s somebody pass through there and spread it there,” the man said.
Staying safe and ensuring that no one else in the family contracts the virus, he added, is now of utmost importance as they await to be tested for the second time after receiving their first negative result not long ago.
Khan was described as a caring, jovial and nurturing person, they are also staying safe during this time. Ayube Khan expressed his gratitude to the health care workers who were fighting to save his brother’s life while he was within the COVID-19 ICU.
From today, Guyana is expected to begin the second phase of the rollback of COVID-19 measures. During the second phase, which will run from July 3 to July 16, business operations in regions with no COVID-19 cases are expected to resume, while the manufacturing sector is expected to reopen and public sector construction is to resume. So far, only regions Five and Eight have not yet recorded any COVID-19 cases.
