The Government of Guyana (GoG) will ramp up COVID-19 testing in the country. This will see daily tests being increased from 600 to 1000 by the end of the month, the President, Dr Irfaan Ali said in his address to the nation yesterday afternoon, as his regime commemorated 100 days in office.
“Our foremost priority upon assuming office was to craft a response to the coronavirus pandemic. Our response has been comprehensive and multifaceted. We assembled a taskforce that included medical personnel and our regional/international partners. We increased testing capacity to the point where we can administer as many as 600 tests per day and we are working to increase this to more than 1,000 by the end of this month,” the Head of State said.
He added that the government has also been able to acquire “adequate” supplies of personal protective gear and allocated $150M in the emergency budget for frontline workers. Ventilators, oxygen concentrators and other equipment necessary for treating patients have been received and are being operationalised.
“We have retrofitted the Infectious Diseases Hospital making it suitable for offering meaningful patient care and we have enhanced the capacity of regional hospitals to treat coronavirus patients. We have acquired much needed drugs which are being used to improve patients’ recovery. When a vaccine comes, Guyana will be part of the worldwide immunization process. We have signed on to the facility being provided by the Vaccine Alliance which will provide us with access to the vaccine. Our healthcare actions have not only been focused on covid-19 as we have also procured medical supplies that have been lacking in the system for over two years,” he noted.
The COVID-19 Hospital, formerly the Ocean View Hotel, at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara is likely to see its Intensive Care Unit (ICU) facilities come onstream by the end of the week.
