Japan gifts Guyana US$1M grant to fight COVID

JAPAN HAS GIVEN GUYANA A $205.8M ((US $1,029M) GRANT to help combat the deadly
coronavirus which has so far killed 4.5 million worldwide and 760 in Guyana.

Health Minister Dr. Frank Anthony made the disclosure Monday during his ministry’s daily COVID-19
update, saying the financial backing will be used to procure “much needed equipment” for the local health
sector in its ongoing battles against the highly contagious virus.

“Some of the things that we’ll be getting through that grant include imaging equipment, ultrasound where
we can use to help with the diagnosis of COVID. We are getting at least four different ultrasound
machines; we are also getting some sterilisers, ECG machines. We’ll get some pulse oximeters” too,
Anthony said.

He is expecting that equipment, plus four new ambulances, to arrive in Guyana in November.

Since the pandemic reached Guyana in March 2020, the country has been the beneficiary of several
generous donations, including personal protective equipment (PPE); medical paraphernalia including
ventilators; funding and COVID-19 vaccines from several countries; from friendly non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) and some of its international partners.

In its ongoing fight, the Guyanese government has pursued several sensitisation campaigns to educate the
public on COVID-19, and also instituted a number of gazetted measures to help control the spread of the
deadly disease.  These include a nation-wide curfew and limitations on the operations of businesses.

Its most recent gazetted measure which has virtually mandated vaccination or get weekly, expensive PCR
tests to gain entry to government offices has met staunched resistance, especially from healthcare workers,
especially from nurses.

Procuring sufficient vaccines is also a top priority for inoculating the population. Another batch of the life-
saving inoculant arrived in the country this afternoon.