Mask wearing, vaccination for Easter celebrations urged by Health Minister

As Guyanese and visitors across the country prepare to celebrate the Easter holiday outdoors, Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, is appealing persons to ensure they take all precautions since the pandemic is not over.

Dr. Anthony stressed that wearing a mask in crowded environments can prevent infection. He said too, that getting vaccinated will prevent the severe form of the disease and in many cases hospitalisation. “People must take the relevant precautions; those precautions would be that you should, if you’re in a congested environment, at least have on a mask and if you must be in those environments, make sure that you’re also vaccinated,” Dr. Anthony said.

Minister Anthony pointed out that due to the pandemic, emergency measures were put in place to curb the spread of the disease.  As such, the minister said that citizens were unable to fully celebrate the joyous holiday for the past two years. He noted that this year, with a decrease in positive cases, hospitalisation and deaths, the government took the necessary steps in reopening the country. The minister said that also, measures such as mask wearing, curfew and social distancing were relaxed to enable some level of normalcy. However, he noted that persons are advised to protect themselves by getting inoculated and continue to sanitise.

Additionally, with approximately 100 active cases, Dr. Anthony said, “I just want people to be very cautious, because while we want to open up the country… we’re not at a place where we have zero Covid in Guyana.” Minister Anthony disclosed during Thursday’s COVID-19 update, that Guyana recorded nine new cases within the last 24-hours.

The health minister further said 11 persons are currently hospitalised with one person in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Liliendaal hospital.