“One Death Is Too Many” – Minister issues passionate appeal

“One death is too many from COVID 19. It is a pandemic worldwide and I want to share this with you, because we need to take cognizant that COVID is dangerous,” this was the firm view expressed by Minister within the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, Anand Persaud.  

Minister Persaud was at the time addressing Regional and Municipality Councillors in Linden during an official visit to the region. He was accompanied by Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Nigel Dharamlall and Permanent Secretary, Emile Mc Garrel.

Minister Persaud noted that both the Regional and Municipality Councillors must help in disseminating the message of the impact and effects of COVID. He reminded them that because of the disease’s impact, it has sought to bring everything almost to a standstill. However, he said that Government continues to find ways in addressing some of the immediate challenges. He noted that the public must recognise that they must adhere to the Ministry of Health guidelines if they are hoping to survive this pandemic. He cautioned those leaders to use their influence and voice to assist government, reminding them that if the fight is lost all will suffer.

“We need to share this view of how impactful COVID is, our friends, families and the public as we traverse around our communities and wherever we go. I would also like for us to ensure that we tell everyone to follow the three protocols of COVID, which is wearing a mask, social distancing and sanitizing regularly,” the Minister appealed.

This, he noted will be the only avenue in stemming the continuous increasing numbers. He said that with the numbers of those infected and who would have died from it continuing to grow, it should be an urgent wakeup call for all that the fight cannot be one only by the Ministry of Health, but more so every single resident. He said that so impactful of the disease that every sector has been harshly affected and as Regional and Municipality Councillors, he is cognizant that their work programme has been affected severely as well.

“COVID has affected us here in Guyana tremendously educationally, economically, whatever you can think about, our night light,  our social life is affected so I want to emphasize that fact and I am very blunt about it. If you contract COVID you may die and we need to pay very keen attention to that,” Minister Persaud warned.

Meanwhile, Minister Nigel Dharamlall echoed similar sentiments of his colleague. He urged all to seriously recognize that COVID is indeed a killer. 

“The RDC must be reminded that they must play a serious role in containing and secondly eradicating this malicious disease that has affected every segment of our country,” Minister Dharamlall stressed.

Speaking about the importance of having an all-inclusive Regional Task Force to fight COVID, the Minister urged the acting REO to include as many persons as possible.