All Guyanese must join the fight against COVID-19

PRESIDENT IRFAAN ALI IS APPEALING TO ALL GUYANESE TO JOIN THE
FIGHT against the highly contagious and deadly corona virus declared a global pandemic by the
World health Organisation (WHO) last year.
The COVID-19 infection was discovered in Wuhan, China towards the end of 2019 and spread
rapidly globally killing more than 4 million inhabitants of planet earth and over 540 in Guyana.
“We can defeat this enemy and win this battle, returning to the life we enjoyed, but to do so, all
must join the battle; all must be inoculated,” President Ali said in a national address.
In his statement, the president noted the pervasive effects of COVID-19 on peoples’ lives,
however, Guyanese have not allowed themselves to become a damp squib.
“The past year of the pandemic may have dampened the fire of our enthusiasm, but it has not
extinguished the flames of our optimism,” Ali said.
“Of course, we were not alone in having to contend with the ravages of this virus, and we are not
alone in continuing to battle to contain it, suppress it and overcome it. We have had to mourn the
loss of some 547 lives, with more than 22,619 infections,” President Ali said in the national
broadcast.
In his commiseration withy families who have lost loved-ones since the first recorded death here
in March 2020, Ali in his address reminded his audience that the virus is still a daily, deadly
menace globally and in Guyana because it keeps mutating.
“We all know that none of us is safe, until all of us are safe. That is why your government has
spent large sums procuring vaccines to inoculate everyone against this dreaded and deadly
virus,” the president reminded.
He also took time to counsel Guyanese still skeptical about taking the jab.
“The unvaccinated are now as deadly as the virus itself, for they are not only greatly susceptible
to infection; they could carry it to others, crippling or killing their own families, their friends,
and their co-workers,” Ali warned.

All Guyanese should protect themselves by getting the covid vaccine to help protect their family
and safeguard the rest of the nation, the President said.
“That is why we have had to introduce measures lasting throughout the month of August,
including a curfew, limitation on certain social activities, restrictions on public movements of
unvaccinated persons, and shorter opening times for certain businesses. Your government would
much prefer an open economy with unrestricted movement,” he explained.
He continued, “It would be good for government revenues. It would be good for businesses. But
the profit would come at the loss of many more lives and the health of the nation. Our hospitals
would not be able to cope, nor would we be able to bury the dead if the coronavirus were
allowed to infect the unvaccinated and spread throughout the country”.
Like the rest of the world, Guyana is in constant combat with an invisible enemy, and its troops
have no idea when and where that enemy will strike with lethal force.
Consequently, all Guyanese must fortify themselves against penetration, deny the enemy
victims, to help build up the national resolve through vaccination to repel the foe, President
Ali counselled.