Doubts soar with new COVID strain

A PROMINENT REGION TEN PHYSICIAN IS WARNING THAT A NEW STRAIN OF
THE DEADLY COVID-19 IS IN GUYANA defying existing Ministry of Health guidelines.
“We seem to be in a phase or variant of COVID that is not behaving in the same way like most
of the guidelines would have accommodated,” the medical specialist said in an interview with
www.aroundtheregions.com
The physician who is not authorised to disclose sensitive information on the issue nevertheless
noted that frontline workers have observed that “as long as respiratory symptoms start you don’t
have the luxury like before to observe and watch and wait.”
Frankly, “you don’t have the capacity to deal with advance respiratory support,” the specialist
counselled.
“In the past it was easier to predict someone’s situation, but now you just can’t. Objectively
speaking, this new strain is of really grave concern and it’s important that the public pay heed to
the warnings,” the doctor warned.
Since the country’s first death from the pandemic in March 2020, 442 Guyanese have died from
the disease. Latest figures show 16,895 persons have recovered from the 18,837 who tested
positive from the contagious virus first detected in Wuhan, China, at the end of 2019.
Some 3.89 million persons perished from the virus worldwide, according to confirmed figures.
Some prominent personalities from the bauxite-mining town died recently from COVID,
sparking fears of an outbreak because residents fail to take safety measures as outlined by the
central and regional governments, to heart.

These include well-like Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) Councillor, Ms. Serjonie ‘Gem’ Narine,
and main opposition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Regional Vice Chairman, Mr.
Douglas Gittens, 38.
The specialist is unconvinced that mortal danger has spiked deepening threats for frontline
workers linked to the country’s COVID-19 response programme, even though coordinator for
the programme in Upper Demerara/Berbice (Region Ten), Dr Michael Marks is currently
hospitalised in the Infectious Diseases Hospital at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara, with the
deadly virus. This media house learnt that he is no longer in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) where
jhe was earlier this week.
“You got to take that with a pinch of salt, as Dr. Marks was working at the COVID hospital here
since last year…and its only now that he got sick. So, you really got to look and see if he got
infected at the facility or elsewhere,” the medical source advised.
Furthermore, Dr. Marks’ condition has improved significantly and the prognostication is that his
improvement will continue, “because Dr. Marks has a lot in his favour.”
“He is relatively young and has no illnesses so he has a lot in his favour. However, you got to
weigh that against the little experience that we had with some of these new variants. So, you
can’t pronounce on it because there has not had a significant experience of variants yet,” the
specialist source explained.
Nevertheless, there admits the country has major hurdles confronting its health sector vis-à-vis
the deadly virus.
“Unfortunately, in this country, we do not have the capacity to develop our own, to adequately
isolate the virus and do any significant experimentation. Nor can we, with respect to the
vaccines, coming in reverse engineering of the sort. So, we rely on the countries that can produce
the vaccines. We rely on the international mediators that look over the whole process of
production, safety, trials, reports and all of that and then we just take it.”

So I don’t think there is any person in the health care system that can come out to say 100
percent that they know everything about the vaccine, that they can put their neck on the
block for the vaccine or against the vaccine,” the well-respected medical doctor declared.