Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony says that the authorities here are not considering a total closure of Guyana’s borders in response to the sharp increase in COVID-19 cases and informed that they will continue to work towards having genetic sequencing done to identify variants.
Dr Anthony made this statement during his daily COVID-19 update where he noted that while the United States Centers for Disease Control has moved Guyana to its “Avoid Travel” list, a total closure is not on the cards. On Monday in a travel notice update, Guyana was moved to “Level 4: COVID-19 Very High” along with a number of other countries.
The notice stated that persons should avoid travel to Guyana and if they must travel, should ensure that they are fully vaccinated before doing so. The minister said that it is no secret that Guyana has seen an increase in cases recently and as such the authorities will continue to monitor the situation.
When asked if there is a consideration to have the borders closed to get the situation here under control, he responded, “No. We have our border with Brazil remain closed, our border with Suriname is also in a way closed, we have very regulated traffic that comes over and there are requirements for you to travel to Guyana from these land borders.”
He also pointed out that the land border with Brazil has been closed for about a year with just one day allowed for the exchange of goods and services weekly.
The minister had previously stated on multiple occasions that the country is currently in the midst of what can be considered a Delta surge, however, no variant testing has been done as of recent. The authorities had sent a small set of samples for genetic sequencing to the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) earlier in the year and since the return of those results, no other samples have been sent.
Dr Anthony was also asked whether the Ministry of Health has received a report on the traveller who was a carrier of the Delta variant from Guyana to Trinidad to which he replied, “The CMO [Chief Medical Officer] has made such a request from his counterpart in Trinidad, I don’t think we have had an official update as yet but we have made such a request.”
Additionally, during the update, Dr Anthony called the issue of variant testing a “moot point” as he said that from all the clinical presentations, authorities here are positive that the Delta variant is being transmitted locally.
“Right now it’s a moot point because from all the clinical parameters we feel very confident that we have the Delta variant transmitted here, the transmissibility the rate of infections, all of that is pointing to a Delta variant,” he said.
He added that the authorities here have been in contact with a few international partners to see whether the confirmation can be done through sequencing, however, they have been unable to send any new samples. Dr Anthony iterated that they will continue to work to make sure that sequencing is done.
