guyana

Country: Guyana

Population: 782,766

Currency: Guyana dollars

Language: English

Georgetown, SEPTEMBER 08, 2022 (MIC) -

COVID-19 and Monkey Pox 

By August 2022, some two years after Guyana recorded its first COVID-19 case, there were more than 70,900 cases with more than 1270 known COVID-19 related deaths recorded. To date some 400,000 or more than 60% of Guyanese have been vaccinated. The Guyana government acquired a number of vaccines including AstraZeneca, Pzifer, Sinopharm and Sputnik. It has been reported that approximately 86.7% of the adult population received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine according to the Ministry of Finance’s Mid Year Report. 

The percentage of adults who received their second dose of vaccination also increased significantly, rising to 67% of the adult population compared to 15% in the first half of last year, according to the Mid Year Report. 4,635 adolescents have received their first dose of the vaccine, of which 3,894 received their second dose.

 Even as the health sector continued to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic Guyana recorded its first case of Money Pox in August and to date there are two known cases of MonkeyPox in the country. 

Health regulations were relaxed in March 2022. Vaccination cards are no longer needed for entry into buildings or as travel requirements. 

Guyana’s unprecedented growth amidst a global pandemic

Guyana recorded an overall real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 36.4% in the first half of 2022, the Ministry of Finance said. In its Mid-Year Report released in September, the Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh reported growth in the non-oil economy this is despite “geopolitical tensions, protraction of COVID-19 and soaring energy prices” which the government said “posed significant external threats to macroeconomic stability and economic performance”. 

At home, multiple floods across the country challenged the agriculture sector and threatened the country’s infrastructure. Floods as well as shortages and supply chain issues continue to affect food prices and cost of living. The agriculture, forestry and fishing sector estimated to have expanded by 10.9% in the first half of 2022, according to the Mid Report Report. Sugar and rice contracted while other crops expanded. The livestock industry grew but fishery contracted by 19% “on account of lower marine production.”

When questioned about the rising cost of living, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said  that the government has been continuously analysing the situation. Jagdeo pointed out that the government had already provided a number of measures in the 2022 National Budget and a series of grants had been announced. 

This forced the Opposition APNU+AFC to call for the implementation of a more “comprehensive plan” to tackle the rising cost of living. 

Cost of Living 

According to the Mid Year Report the Consumer Price Index increased by 4.9% percent at the end of June 2022, when compared with the index at the end of 2021. “The 2022 rise was primarily underpinned by high food and energy prices,” the Ministry of Finance said “with the former increasing by 8.1% and contributing 3.6% points to the inflation rate”. According to the Mid year Report, the “main drivers” within the food category of the CPI basket were meat, fish and eggs, vegetables and vegetable products, and cereals and cereal products. These accounted for 1.5 % points, and 0.6 of a percentage point for each of the latter two, respectively. 

Grassroots women trying to cope with rising cost of living

A small group of women from various villages and towns across the country gathered at the office of Red Thread, an NGO to discuss the rising cost of living. “The price of food really gone up, sky high,” Wintress White told us. The organisation has been monitoring the prices for food in Regions 3,4, 7 and 8. “A bottle of oil, a one litre bottle of oil, what you used to pay $360 for is now $800,” White explained.

Margaret John, is a mother and resident of Mahdia in Region 8. Reading from a list, she told us of prices she keeps track of weekly, “$2,260 for a small bag of rice, $340 for a small packet of flour….” she read from her list. Mahdia is located in Region 8 and the only modes of transportation used to get there are planes or buses or trucks. Food is often transported via land and transportation costs can affect the cost of food. 

“It is very hard,” John said, “my husband works with the government and the little salary he working for can’t do for the month.”

Norma Adrian hails from Parfait Harmonie in Region Three. The grandmother says her family reduced their meals from three a day to two, “greens selling more dear than gold,” she opined. Adrian prepares meals for a four person household and estimates that it costs some $20,000 (US$100)  per week to do so. This includes meals for a child who is returning to school. 

“If you don’t have $20,000 to spend for the week you cutting short everything,” she explained, “you for to cut short the meals them, instead of three meals a day, you eat 2.”

At the markets, vendors bemoan the rising cost of vegetables. At Stabroek Market in the city, there is an abundance of fresh vegetables and meat. Vendors would purchase supplies of vegetables from farmers. “The prices for the greens are terribly high,” vendor Sawarwattie Dharry tells us. She explained that farmers blame the high prices on floods as well as the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Cash Grants

Since 2020 a number of cash grants have been distributed to various sections of the population to help “cushion” the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the rising cost of living.  

Among these grants are the “Because we care” cash grants given to school-age children. Some 184,000 public school students and 18,000 private school children were expected to benefit from this cash grant. Some $5.5 billion was budgeted for this cash grant and $540 million for grants for private school children. 

Health and the Pandemic

Hospitalisations and deaths from COVID-19 in the first half of 2022 were concentrated in the months of January and February, post the 2021 festive season, the Mid Year Report said. The government used available funds to continue the acquisition of vaccines and have acquired more than 132,000 COVID-19 vaccines to date, including 52,000 pediatric doses. 

The COVID-19 Pandemic has forced the government to be more resilient to unexpected changes, Malcom Watkins, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health told us. 

“What we realised taking over office in the middle of the pandemic, we realised the first change we had to embrace administratively is to be able to be adaptable,” Watkins explained. Watkins who was part of the new government that came into office in August 2020 was faced with growing needs brought up on the COVID-19 Pandemic. There was a need for increased spending, the acquisition of much needed PPEs and already in demand vaccines in later months. 

Watkins explained that his ministry has to be more “agile” as the challenges increase. “We had to then work closely with our partners to get the support we need,” the PS pointed out. These partners included PAHO/WHO who provided much needed PPEs, the World Bank that provided access to financing for various projects and the Ministry of Finance, the government agency tasked with finding the necessary funds to address the needs of the pandemic. 

Among the demands at that early stage was getting the lone COVID-19 or the Infectious Diseases Hospital operational, acquiring adequate oxygen and other needs. “Our supply chain infrastructure, our staffing mindset towards the pandemic and changing environments, our stakeholders mobilization expanded and our ability to plan quickly and execute efficiently,” were described as the four pillars that guided the government’s response to the pandemic, Watkins said. 

This provides the government with a “good blueprint” to respond to challenges of any other health crisis. 

COVID-19 and the Hinterland

Providing key services to far flung communities during the pandemic was even more essential. There were demands for PPEs, medication, oxygen and tests. “We coordinated very strategically,” Watkins said, “not only administratively but policy wise.” This allowed ready access to PPEs for instance, “we were able to increase availability when we took over as PS from about 35% availability to between 85% to 90% availability in the first six months.” 

A special Task Force on COVID-19 had been established. Headed by Prime Minister Mark Phillips, it included representatives from the regions, health authorities and police among others. To date Guyana is still receiving donations of what Watkins described as “critical vaccines”. 

FUNDING

Guyana has spent well into “the tens of billions” of the two year period the Permanent Secretary estimated. No exact figure is available at this time. In 2021 the government spent $2.3 billion on its COVID-19 Vaccination programme and in 2022 some $6.8 billion was allocated for the national COVID-19 response. 

The Ministry of Finance estimated that some $3.5 billion has been spent to “equip health facilities with adequate drugs and medical supplies,” to address needs brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

To date funding has been received from the World Bank.

Inter-American Development Bank

In 2022, the IDB announced approval of a US$22 million loan under the Contingent Credit Facility for Natural Disaster and Public Health Emergencies. 

PAHO/WHO

In 2020, PAHO/WHO provided a US$1 million grant through the Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility administered by the World Bank. This was used to procure essential medical supplies. 

Access to Justice during the COVID-19 Pandemic 

When the COVID-19 pandemic became a reality in 2020, every service was affected, this included those provided by the local court system. Recognising that the judicial system is an essential service, officers of the court worked on providing access to justice. “One of the first things that we did, we sought to do more hearings online,” Registrar Sueanna Lovell said, “We acquired zoom licenses for all judges, magistrates to be able to conduct hearings online with attorneys, ligitants, everybody,” she explained. 

Jury trials were initially suspended, Registrar Lovell explained but a solution had to be found, “We were one of the first jurisdictions in the Caribbean to resume jury trials,” She explained, “we did so by completely changing the layout of our criminal courtrooms.” Jury members are no longer in jury boxes, rather, there are individual chairs which were assigned for each member of the jury.   

One of the most important groups are prisoners. In December, 2021, container courts were launched. These are specially outfitted and equipped containers placed in prisons’ compounds. “Since the pandemic started we have not had a prisoner come from the prison to the court,” Registrar Lovell said, “everything is being done online.” 

Acting Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards (right) and Acting Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire cutting the ribbon at the opening of the container courts at Lusignan. (Orlando Charles/Stabroek News photo)

COVID-19 and LGBTQ+ Community 

Loss of income affected more than 70% of the LGBTQ+ community surveyed in May 2020. The Society against Sexual Orientation Discrimination, SASOD Guyana surveyed some 200 members of the LGBTQI community and found that that there were loss of jobs and income from reduced hours or containment measures like the lockdowns. 

“People suffered those economic impacts and are still suffering them to lesser degrees even now,” SASOD Guyana Managing Director Joel Simpson told us. 

The survey focused on a few areas including socio-economic disparities, general health and support services and mental health. “There was also a health recuperussions for LGBTQ people, persons were directly affected by COVID-19 and we lost a number of prominent persons from the LGBTQ populatin in Guyana,” He said, “ We also found that in the early days, early months there was a significant mental health burden.”

Simpson said among the findings was that the pandemic caused “stress” and people did not have the resources, coping mechanisms, tools or power to manage the stress. “No doubt the stress was also related to loss of income and reduced livelihood.”

 The survey also found that there was some “uneasiness” among persons who had to spend more time at home, since their homes were not a safe space. The survey also found an “upshoot” in cybercrimes against LGBTQ+ persons. 

Findings from the Guyana LGBTQ+ COVID-19 Survey 

A little over 70% of persons had lost their job or experienced reduced working hours due to COVID-19; most persons had very little current savings.

• Fifty-four per cent (54%) of the respondents reported having caring responsibilities and many were unable to secure care in the past 3 weeks.

• Counselling was the most frequently utilized support service pre-COVID-19 and persons most desired support with food/water and help to cope with emotions and stress. This was also reflected in the open-ended question on how LGBTQ+ organizations could best support the community.

• The analysis revealed moderate levels of psychological distress in the sample population overall.

• Most persons were worried about COVID-19 and used the preventative measures advocated by public health authorities. Drinking herbal teas was also widely practiced.

• The most commonly reported source of information on COVID-19 was social media.

• Many persons did not meet persons outside their homes for sex, and there was some increase in more than usual substance use during the lockdown.

• Although less than a third of respondents answered the general question on experiencing abuse, over 65% of the respondents answered the individual questions on various types of household violence. Sexual and physical abuse in the household within the last 2 weeks was fairly uncommon, and verbal abuse was the most commonly reported form of abuse.

Pandemic response. 

“Some of the challenges, we have been able to get some persons, those who would come forward, like mental health services, in terms of counseling,” Simpson explained, “during the pandemic especially we directly provided services through virtual platforms like WhatsApp and Zoom.” 

Simpson said that the survey found that mental health support was most needed. 

Georgetown, June 05, 2022 (MIC) -

Lifting COVID-19 Health Regulations

COVID-19 restrictions on social activities and gatherings as well as the mandatory mask requirement were “removed” in March as the Guyana government lifted the COVID-19 restrictions. These restrictions set out in the Public Health Ordinance were first implemented two years ago. Changes to the Ordinance reflected the realities over the years as the country grappled with different challenges brought on by the pandemic. Todate, Guyana has recorded more than 64,000 COVID-19 cases and more than 1230 deaths. 

Vaccination

Guyana’s deployment of an “aggressive” vaccination campaign has been described as one of the main “anchors” of the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As of January 2022, 82.1% of the Guyanese adult population had received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccination. 60.3% of the adult population is fully vaccinated as of that same period. Guyana. In August, 2021 the Guyana government had announced that it spent some $2.2 billion on vaccine purchases. AstraZeneca vaccines were acquired through the COVAX facility while the government also acquired Johnson and Johnson, Sputnik V and Sinopharm. 

Floods, COVID-19 and other relief 

Flooding caused by heavy rainfall continues to affect livelihood in Guyana. Several regions have been affected by flooding which has led to loss of agriculture as well as livestock. The 2021 floods have been described as “more devastating than the 2005 floods,” as a National Disaster was declared.

Even with this, 9.2% growth in the livestock sub sector was recorded despite the loss of livestock in the floods. “The increase is on account of growth in the production of poultry meat, beef, pork and mutton, which are estimated to have expanded by 16.5 %, 13.9%, 23.6% and 21.3%, respectively, when compared with 2020 output,” the 2022 National Budget report read. The budget report which was presented in January pointed out that “these more than offset the estimated declines in the production of eggs and milk. The increase in production reflects the growth in demand which followed the relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions on restaurants and other food establishments, combined with high demand in the oil and gas and mining sectors.” 

 In 2021, the Guyana government distributed $7.8 Billion in flood relief for residents affected by countrywide flooding. In that same year, it distributed, “COVID-19 cash grants” amounting to some $7.5 billion. In 2022, President Mohamed Ali announced four additional relief measures. $800 million have been allocated for a $25,000 cash grant to households in riverain and hinterland communities. 

In late 2021, the Guyana government announced a special tax-free bonus equivalent to two weeks salary and amounting to more than $600 million to be paid to some to 9,200 health workers. In May 2022, President Ali announced plans to purchase some $1billion in fertilizer for free distribution to farmers. This is expected to assist with the supply of food for both the local market and for export. 

Guyana’s Growth amidst a pandemic 

Despite challenges and disruptions brought by the COVID-19 Pandemic, Guyana’s economy continues to grow mainly due to contributions from the oil-and-gas sector. With approximately 28 offshore discoveries since 2015, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had estimated that in 2021, petroleum earnings will account for some 38.2% of Guyana’s GDP. In January, a World Bank report, “Global Economic Prospects” projected that the economy was projected to expand by 49.7%. Based on this, Guyana is the only country in Latin America and the Caribbean which is expected to record double-digit growth in 2022, “The small states sample excludes commodity-reliant Guyana, which is experiencing a growth boom due to rapid offshore oil industry development.” The report highlighted Guyana’s resilience in 2021 as it pointed out that despite the pandemic and floods, the country’s economy was able to record positive growth. 

During his 2022 National Budget presentation, Minister responsible for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh told the National Assembly that Guyana’s Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is estimated to have grown by 19.9%, while non-oil GDP is estimated to have grown by 4.6% in 2021. “Despite the persistence of COVID19 as well as the impact of the floods,” the Minister pointed out, “With this rate of overall growth, Guyana is likely to be amongst the three fastest growing economies worldwide in 2022.”

Dr Singh said that the “very creditable performance” of the non-oil productive sector reflected the delicate and dynamic policy balance struck between aggressive containment of COVID-19 on the one hand and phased reopening of the economy on the other hand. “It also reflects the prompt and proactive flood mitigation measures which helped limit the fallout in the agriculture sector and supported the sector in resuming activity in the shortest possible time.” 

The Health Sector two years into the COVID-19 Pandemic

Challenges: 

From vaccine hesitancy into complacency the challenges still are many, two years into the pandemic says Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony. “A lot of people are fatigue,” Dr Anthony pointed out “they have been two years at this so they don’t wanna comply, they don’t wanna use mask, they don’t want to abide by public health measures. So that can be challenging going forward.” 

By May, 2022, there was an upswing of cases even after a robust vaccination campaign. Minister Anthony predicted that the cases would continue to rise if the measures are not adopted. He pointed out too that vaccine hesitancy also led to complacency, “what we are seeing is that not a lot of people coming forward to take booster doses.” 

Another major challenge has been with what is referred to as “Long COVID.” Minister Anthony said this is being monitored to be able to treat patients with long COVID which he describes as a “growing problem.” 

Strain on the Health System 

Dr Anthony said the government has been able to mobilise equipment, buy much needed medical gears and put systems in place to deal with demands of the COVID-19 pandemic. He pointed to the redeployment of staffers when numbers of COVID-19 cases were surging, “So if they were working on a regular ward, we had to move them into areas where we saw the need for them to be.” The Minister said more health workers have been trained to deal with what COVID-19 brings to the health sector. 

“A lot of Money” has been spent on fighting COVID-19.

Billions of dollars have been spent on fighting the pandemic in Guyana. Some $750 million alone had been spent on the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH). That hospital was able to provide treatment to more than 2,500 patients in 2021 according to the last budget. Dr Anthony said billions have been on infrastructure, vaccines, medication, PPEs and oxygen. 

IMF’s latest Review 

Guyana’s Economy has recovered well from the Global Pandemic and 2021 floods on account of sound policy action

The IMF found that Guyanese economy which was negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and 2021 floods recovered “well” as it was supported by the “oil boom, and policy actions.”

“Following the pandemic-induced recession and delayed political transition in 2020, economic growth recovered in 2021, with non-oil Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth reaching 4.6 percent. The war in Ukraine exacerbated inflationary pressures in 2022—due primarily to higher fuel and food prices—but the government implemented measures to mitigate the impact on vulnerable households and the economy. Even though the current account deficit widened significantly in 2021 in part reflecting increased capital imports, the foreign exchange (FX) reserve position improved, due to the new Special Drawing Rights (SDR) allocation”, the report noted. It also pointed out that “After deteriorating markedly in 2020, the fiscal position remained appropriately supportive in 2021. In response to the pandemic, the authorities reallocated expenditures towards cash grants and transfers and ‘shovel ready’ public investment projects, primarily improving road networks and providing affordable housing, and eased the tax burden on the most vulnerable. Public debt stood at 42.9 percent of GDP at end-2021, one of the lowest in the region.” 

‘Guyana’s medium-term prospects are more favorable than ever before, with increasing oil production having the potential to transform Guyana’s economy’

While noting that oil production is expected to increase significantly, the IMF indicated that Guyana’s commercially recoverable petroleum reserves is estimated to be well over 11 billion barrels, the third largest in Latin America and Caribbean, and one of the highest levels of oil reserves per capita in the world.

“This could help Guyana build up substantial fiscal and external buffers to absorb shocks while addressing infrastructure gaps and human development needs. However, increased dependence on oil revenues will expose the economy to volatility in global oil prices. A slowing global economy and the repercussions from the war in Ukraine could also adversely affect non-oil exports. On the other hand, higher global oil prices and additional gas and oil discoveries could significantly improve Guyana’s long-term economic prospects,” the IMF added. 

 Guyana’s battle with COVID-19. 

In January, Dr Ashni Singh told the National Assembly that COVID-19 continues to have severe “disruptive effects” on global production and trade. These disruptions continue to affect the global supply chain. “Since the onset of COVID19, supply chains across the world have been clogged up with disruptions in critical shipping routes due to port congestion, shortages in labour and key materials, and fluctuating demand,’ Dr Singh said. A shortage in container availability also helped drive up freight charges significantly which affected freight rates. “Our Government has moved to contain the pass-through to the domestic economy,” Dr Singh told the House. He listed specific interventions implemented which included: 

• Restricting the freight cost to pre-COVID-19 levels for the purposes of determining the taxable value of imports. “This measure is estimated to have saved Guyanese businesses and consumers nearly $4 billion since its implementation in August 202,” Dr Singh said. 

• Reduction in the excise tax charged on diesel and gasoline, first in February 2021 from 50 percent to 35 percent and then in October from 35 percent to 20 percent. In May, 2022, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said that further reducing the excise tax is not on the government’s agenda. The reduction of the excise tax is to help contain the cost of domestic transportation.  

Services Industry and the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Growth in the services sector is as a result of “significant expansion” in wholesale and retail trade and repairs, transport and storage, financial and insurance activities, and administrative and support services. This is according to Finance Minister Dr Singh. “Growth in wholesale and retail trade and repairs was primarily driven by heightened demand for consumption goods and construction materials,” the Minister said. Growth was also recorded in the land transport sub industry through “cargo movements and increased passenger transport attributed to relaxed COVID-19 restrictions.”

Health expenses

The Guyana government allocated some $8.4 billion to address the COVID-19 pandemic in the health sector. This sum included sums to be spent on the Infectious Diseases Hospital, the acquisition of  oxygen and PPEs. 

“Recognising that the pandemic will continue to demand dedicated attention, in 2022, the COVID-19 response programme will continue to heavily rely on masking, physical distancing, ventilation and sanitising requirements, access to COVID-19 vaccines and care and treatment at the IDH,” Dr Singh said. 

The government spent $2.3 billion in 2021 on its COVID-19 vaccination programme but in 2022 it allocated more than $6.8 billion the national COVID-19 response which includes among other initiatives, the provision for an additional 260,000 doses of vaccines to be utilised for booster shots and those yet to be vaccinated.

Georgetown, March 01, 2022 (MIC) -

Public Health in a Pandemic

 By the third week of February 2022 more than 534,000 COVID-19 tests were conducted in Guyana since the Coronavirus was first detected in March 2020. The country recorded some 1215 deaths and there are more than 62,000 COVID-19 cases. While vaccinations continue, booster shots administered were only 47,000 compared to persons said to be fully vaccinated which stood at more than 324,000. Up to February 2020 more than 429,000 Guyanese received their first dose of vaccination.

Curfew Lifted

By the second week of February and in anticipation of the International Energy Conference and Guyana’s Republic holiday, the government through the National COVID-19 Task Force announced it was lifting the curfew with “immediate effect.” The government had already struggled to enforce the curfew and in many cases authorities ignored the breaches.  

By the start of January, 2022 new infections were at a record high. On January 4th, the Ministry of Health’s dashboard recorded more than 480 new infections, the highest ever recorded in 24 hours in Guyana. Then, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony announced that the infections could be linked to the Omicron variant.

 With this rapid increase in positive cases and admissions doubling during the first three weeks of 2022, there were calls for the government to “reinstate” restrictions that would limit physical contact between persons. One opposition political party, A New and United Guyana called on the government to revise the public health measures since it said that the relaxation of the measures along with the opening of schools continue to affect health care workers.  “The health sector has recently been affected by a surge in staff infections and this has put an extra strain on an already taxed workforce,” the party said in its statement, “Most wards in the public system are run by junior nurses and even these are in insufficient numbers.”

Realities of the Public Health Challenges

 The United Nations Development Programme’s Socio-Economic Impact Assessment of COVID-19 on Households in Guyana found that some 1.3% of Guyanese households have indicated that at least one member tested positive for COVID-19. In its report released in June 2021, Region 1 was found to be the hardest hit by the pandemic as the report pointed out that up to the time the data were collected some 10.9% of the households surveyed had “the experience of being unable to access needed medications, treatments and therapies.”

 The lack of money to access healthcare, the lack of access to medication and lack of equipment at health centres were among the issues identified in the report. These issues were further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Pandemic and the Health Care System

 People were initially “scared” to visit health centres and hospitals when the Coronavirus first affected Guyana, that has all changed now says Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony. Those persons would have been persons with chronic illnesses, like diabetes.   “We would have seen in the early days of the pandemic a decline in those patients coming for treatment,” the minister explained.

 The Minister said “that dynamic” has been changed as persons with chronic illnesses. They were able to access the COVID-19 vaccination which provided some “safeguard” and allowed them to return to the health centres for treatment.

Tele-medicine

The Ministry of Health was able to apply and use tele-medince in some aspects of public health care, “we still have to go a far way if we are going to use it in a more broader sense,” Dr Anthony admitted. He said tele-medicine gave people “an opportunity to accelerate” using these types of technologies.

Pressure on the public health system

Testing for COVID-19 is one of the areas that has been increased.  “There is alot of people coming to our system for testing and a little known fact is that many of the private hospitals is that when they have to screen and test, do PCRs, they very often send those samples to the National Public Health Reference Lab for us to do those samples and we do them for free,” Dr Anthony said.

For treatment, the Minister said the government was able to build capacity in the country’s capital of Georgetown as well as outlying areas. “We have more ICU beds, ventilators, monitors, that we have ever had before,” Dr Anthony said. Regional hospitals have three ICU spaces along with ventilators to manage COVID-19 patients.

The country’s main COVID-19 hospital is located in Georgetown and that bed capacity is now at 195 Dr Anthony said. That hospital has an ICU with 52 beds. “Capacity has certainly changed and during the pandemic with the different waves we have had, we have never been able to exceed that capacity, right now we have 380 beds and we were never able to exceed that capacity.”

Imported Medical Workers

 Guyana made good on its relationship with Cuba during the pandemic as it continued to accept Cuban specialists to work within the system. In August 2021, more than 50 Cuban specialists in general surgery, anaesthesiology, gynecology, obstetrics, pediatrics as well as laboratory technologists and pharmacists were welcomed into the health care system.

Infrastructure

The Ministry has been building additional spaces within health centres across the country. Health centres are often the first stop for many persons seeking treatment, “last year we did more than 30 or 40 health facilities. This year we are going to continue that exercise to ensure that when people come to the facility that they are much more comfortable,” Dr Anthony said.

  Dr Anthony said. He said in some health centres, theatre capacity has been added, “for the first time they would be able to do minor operations,” in some of the far-flung communities, the Minister said. Additionally, there are continuous works on several hospitals across the country with the aim of improving other services.

Georgetown, December 28, 2021 (MIC) -

Home-Schooling during the pandemic

9-year-old Emery James has not seen the physical classroom in two years. He is one of thousands of Guyanese children attending school virtually in this new era of learning brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. “I miss my friends,” he tells us during our brief chat. He had just taken a break from class as he prepared for end of term tests. His classes start at 9:00hrs every weekday morning and go until 15:00hrs. 

Managing online classes has been a challenge for his mother, Maria Mitchell, a teacher. Their class times are simultaneous, so many days she must manage both her classes and Emery’s. 

“I had to separate work from home because it was getting overwhelming,” Miss Mitchell told us, “From the moment you work up you have parents and students messaging you, asking questions, responding to assignments and then even on lunch break, there is no break for the teachers.”

All of this must be done while managing her son, “Even on your break, I had to check in on my child to see what he is doing, are you following your instructions, does he have homework, so it has been very difficult.” 

While some students accessed classes online, classes re-opened for some students; mainly those in secondary school and some primary school students preparing for Grade Six examination. The Guyana Government is pushing to return to schools full- time from early 2022. This would require vaccinated teachers and students alike, different classroom settings and additional resources. 

Reopening the school doors

In August, 2021, Guyana’s Minister of Education Priya Manickchand announced the re-opening of schools for face-to-face learning. “Reopening will look very different than it did in September 2019,” Manickchand said. And that difference revolved around the school management plans for opening. Schools’ heads along with their Parent/Teacher Association were allowed to develop a time and schedule for the opening and operations of the schools. At the nursery level, some schools were opened for one hour on the first day to allow first timers the chance to become familiar with the school environment. For students preparing for the National Grade Six and the Caribbean Examination Council’s CSEC and CAPE, they were required to spend longer hours in class. 

Education Minister Manickchand, in urging all to embrace the reopening of schools, warned of “premature school leaving.” “What it means is that there is a severe loss of the learning that children would have required, children who knew certain concepts will forget them,” she said, “children who have acquired certain skills will not use those skills and the longer we stay out of school, the more exacerbated that will become.” 

Meanwhile, as the new year approaches, face-to-face classes are very much on the agenda for Forms Two-Six students. Minister Manickchand said that based on the ministry’s information, some 70% of teachers are vaccinated and therefore ready for classes.

“We have moved from about 23% of our teachers vaccinated last September to high 70’s now,” Minister Manickchand said. In Region 4 alone, vaccination among teachers is high. The Minister said some 79% of nursery and primary teachers were vaccinated as of December 1st while 71% of secondary teachers are vaccinated. 

 Even as the Minister said this, the vaccination rate among secondary school-age students remains low. 

Lost Children 

By September 2021, the school system had lost some children, the Ministry of Education said. Some 535 children who wrote the National Grade Six Assessment did not move on to secondary school. By December, Chief Elections Officer Marcel Hutson said some 100 of those children were located. Most of those did not go back to school but opted to work while some children migrated. Families reported to the Ministry that due to financial issues they could not afford to return to school. This prompted the Ministry of Education to assist, “whatever help that could be given to them financially to alleviate the problems they are experiencing would be given to them,” Hutson told the media. 

13-year-old Jermaine (one name given) is among the children who have not returned to school. Speaking to us in the company of his mother, a vendor, Jermaine said his family found it hard in 2020 when the pandemic hit, “ah had to come hussle with mami,” he said shly. Jermaine is below the legal age for work but is one of many young people selling water on the streets. In Georgetown. Asked about the possibility of returning to school, the boy said he had not considered it since he is now earning money for his family.  

Children’s health and COVID

By November, 2021 only 28,930 children between ages 12-17 years old had taken their first dose of vaccine. 20,112 had taken both doses, Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony said. Guyana is administering Pfizer vaccines for children between that age group. 

Responding to our questions, Dr Anthony said that some 4,766 children have been affected with COVID-19 since March 2020 to November 2021. 10 deaths among children were recorded within that period. 

Child Protection took a blow

The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it different challenges for the protection of children, Director of the Child Care and Protection Unit,  Ann Greene, told us. The fact that school was closed for a long period put a dent in reports received by the Unit. There has been a reduction in the number of reported cases of sexual and other types of abuse, Greene said. “With the start of the pandemic, reports had dropped,” Greene said. “Persons were not reporting and that was attributed to children not being seen.” With schools closed, reporting posed a problem. Greene said teachers are often the persons who spot abuse, “so we were not getting as many reports as we should, but this year, it picked up.” The Director of the Childcare and Protection Unit said that while there has been an increase in the reports of abuse, reports do not provide a “true picture” of what is happening with children, “a lot of abuse is unreported, because it is done behind closed doors,” Greene said.

Greene said among the factors affecting children during the pandemic are economic hardship, stress, substance abuse, “children are home with their families, they were locked down with their families who are substance abusers, domestic violence, all of that have been in the lives of children.” Greene said incidence of neglect top reports coming to the agency followed by sexual abuse. 

Meanwhile, the pandemic will have long lasting effects on children Greene predicts as she pointed out that the lack of access to schooling along with interaction as well as nutrition could cause “setbacks in children’s’ lives.” “We will have a period, we will have to say these are the COVID-19 children,” Greene said, “Because later on as research is being done for this period, they will see how these children how these children have suffered, some of them have grown up rapidly,” she pointed out, “the children who are not getting adequate food will be stunted, these are some signs we are seeing.”

What the Rights of the Child Commission found

Access to proper nutrition was among the issues that continue to affect children during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was among the issues the Rights of the Child Commission raised in its report which was handed over to the Parliament of Guyana. Commissioner Rosemary Benjamin-Noble said the commission did a short survey of some of the children’s homes to get “a sense” whether children were eating properly. 

“We had a concern that children may not have been eating because that may have been dependent on a school feeding programme,” she pointed out, “We surveyed some NGOs we identified in Region 3,4 and 5 and we found that while some children were eating okay, there were others who were not.”

The issue was raised with the relevant government ministry. “The problem is continuing and there are some children who are not, apart from not accessing education are not receiving sufficient sustenance,” she said, “I know the government cannot do everything, the state cannot do everything, but I think if they have some more information as provided by us, they may be able to give a little bit more pointed support.”

Children were still having issues accessing schooling materials and technology to access virtual classrooms, “We did raise that with the COVID-19 Task Force,” Benjamin-Noble said, “because we had a concern that, you are trying to give classes on corners on blackboards and so on but it seems to not to be working, not quite the way it was intended.”

 Benjamin-Noble said the commission was told that providing tablets for each child was costly, “we are of the view that maybe, if you do it incrementally, you would be able to get it done, but we do agree that it is costly and maybe not the best approach.” She pointed out even providing tablets meant providing access to the internet. 

Providing access to Education

The Ministry of Education did mass distribution of paper-based worksheets for all grades. Minister Manickchand said that some 58,000 worksheets were provided to the nursery level, 239,000 to primary level students and 235,000 for secondary students. 

The Ministry was able to also revamp the programming on the Guyana Learning Channel and some radio stations, “Presently we air locally produced and curriculum grounded lessons that take students closer to interactive classroom experience,” the Minister said. 

The Ministry of Education has also improved its website to provide past papers, worksheets and other materials including quizzes. 

“There is a heavy cost that went into delivering education,”Manickchand said. She was quick to point out that “just handing out” worksheets was not enough, “it is not the same as face to face instructions.”

In July, the government through Parliament approved some $3.2 billion for its “Because we care” cash grant and School uniform and supplies grant. 

At that time, 172,000 public school students would have received some $15,000 one off grant along with $4000 for uniform/school supplies. By December, the government approved another $285 million for another distribution of the “Because we care” grants, this time for students attending private schools. 

Like the public-school grant, these monies would be distributed across the country. The Ministry of Education estimates that there are some 1000 schools, 12,000 teachers and some 200,000 school aged children. 

Migrant Children and schooling during the Pandemic

There is an estimate of some 22,000 Venezuelan migrants currently in Guyana. While no agency could say how many children are among this number, it is evident that some of the migrants are school aged children. Chief Education Officer Marcel Hutson said that the children are treated as any normal student, “We have sought to place them into specific secondary schools, once they have had all the requirements.”

Based on Information provided by the Ministry of Education some 173 children who are part of the migrant population are in nursery schools, 970 in primary schools and 173 in secondary schools. By December some 1300 migrant children were placed in schools across Guyana.

Georgetown, october 15, 2021 (MIC) -

By the end of September 2021, Guyana recorded 799 COVID-19 related deaths with 161 deaths recorded in that month alone. 32,000 COVID-19 cases have been recorded to date. In September, a spike in COVID-19 deaths led to speculation that the Delta Variant (DV) was present in Guyana. 

By the beginning of October, vaccination numbers increased as Guyanese gathered for Sputnik V 2nd dose after having waited for months. By October 1st, Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony said that 361, 626  or 70.5% of the adult population had received their first dose.  209, 506 persons or 57.9% of the adult population received both doses. Some 24,000 teenagers between ages 12-18 years received their first dose while 12,000 received their 2nd dose as the Minister said some 608,000 doses of vaccines have been administered. 

The government continued to relax certain measures that saw the opening of cinemas, bars and restaurants at 40% capacity. Access to these requires proof of vaccination but there is no real indication that all are in demand to see such proof. Access to public buildings including government ministries is limited to vaccinated persons while unvaccinated persons must make appointments prior to visits. Vaccination, however, is not a requirement for access to the courts, police stations and public hospitals. 

The tale of two tragedies

By May into June, 2020 several communities in Guyana’s ten administrative regions were inundated. Guyana had seen floods in 2015, but those floods were concentrated in certain regions and areas along the coast.  This time all the regions were affected. The impact of the floods on the country was the focus of the government as CDEMA as well as ECLAC along with the Civil Defence Commission spent weeks on the ground analysing the impact of the floods on various sectors. 

In July, President Mohamed Irfaan Ali, in announcing some monetary assistance for farmers and households, said that some 52,000 households were directly affected. He said too, it was the agriculture sector that suffered the “greatest loss with 92,000 acres of farm and farmlands completely affected.” The rice sector recorded losses as the President told the nation that some 50,000 acres of rice were affected by the flood. 

These massive losses coupled with existing challenges and disruption to the supply of food and other goods brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic saw the prices for food skyrocketing. 

By September, the Guyana Bureau of Statistics reported that food prices went up by 14% over the first seven months of 2021. 

According to the data from the Bureau of Statistic, general living costs increased by 5.4% over the seven-month period. 

MID- Year Report

For the first half of 2021, the agriculture, forestry and fishing industries are estimated to have contracted by 2.4%. The report noted that the rice industry grew by an estimated 7.8% in the first half of the year, the ministry said, this was marginally lower than the target set for the period. “Other crops’ declined by 7.3% due to the floods and the livestock industry was estimated to have grown by 10.6% when compared to the same period in 2020. For that same period, the fishing industry contracted by an estimated 6.6%, the Ministry of Finance said. In an interview, Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh described the floods as devastating. 

“There is no doubt at all that the floods did have an adverse impact on economic performance in the first half and the impact of that will continue to be felt in the second half.”

With that in mind, Dr Singh said that the government was sparing no effort aimed at “kick starting” a rapid recovery. He listed low production in sugar and rice. At Albion, one of several sugar estates, Dr Singh said “entire canefields were under water for weeks.” And even as there are indications that the rice sector grew, the floods would affect rice production in 2022. 

“We will see spillovers for rice, particularly in the second half because what happened in the first half of the floods had an impact on people planting for the second half,” Dr Singh said. 

A report on the floods done by ECLAC estimated the damage caused by the floods to be in millions of dollars, “The agricultural sector in Regions 3, 5 and 6 was the most affected by heavy rains and floods,” the report pointed out, “In the livestock sector, it registered damages of around GY $ 614 million, where Regions 6 and 5 were the most affected.”

The road to recovery 

The Guyana government sees what it described as “a multifaceted approach” to recovery from these floods. Dr Singh predicts such recovery will take time, “I am going to say it is not going to be easy for the agriculture sector to recover within such a short space of time, but we are doing all that we possibly can to kick start recovery in the shortest space of time.”

Dr Singh said support for the agriculture sector following the flooding saw the distribution of  planting materials including seedlings as well as breeding stock. The floods would affect “output” in 2021 and possibly 2022, Minister Singh said, when asked about exports. 

Guyana exports sugar, rice and vegetables as well as fruits.  “In the short term, yes, agriculture output will be adversely affected by the floods but our agenda to position Guyana as the food basket of the Caribbean and the major centre for agricultural and food production,” Dr Singh said, “in this part of the hemisphere, is an agenda that goes beyond the short term, it is an agenda that goes beyond this year,” he explained. 

As part of plans to open more agricultural land, the government has invested heavily in drainage and irrigation, construction of new roads and on agro-processing. 

Direct cash transfer

As a response to the effects of the flooding, the Guyana government commenced a cash grant programme aimed at providing monies for households and farmers affected by the flooding. The ECLAC report noted that these “subsidies” were awarded to three types of agents: a) farmers; b) homestead farms; c) households. The first type of agent was awarded a one-time payment of GY$ 100,000, while the other two were awarded a payment of GY $ 50,000.

“The explicit intention of that programme is to provide support to farmers to get back on their feet, to get back to the land, to cultivate again, to plant again, to restore their breeding stock and to be able to get their flock back up,” Finance Minister Singh said. 

COVID-19 and the Pandemic. 

The pandemic affected productivity, the supply of goods and services and ultimately cost of living. AgroServices Inc is a bulk supplier of fruits and vegetables. Renuka Singh, the company’s Corporate Liaison Officer said that farmers became key frontline workers when the pandemic hit, as food was in high demand, while the supply chain as well as production were disrupted.

“Farmers faced a huge challenge to keep food supplies flowing, supermarket shelves crowded and a nation fed,” she pointed out, “Farmers were some of the key frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic since the nation still had to be fed.” 

Agroservices Inc had to find a way to maintain the supply of fresh and whole food. Singh said the major challenges include: 

• Availability of labour and workforce (this is now forcing us to shift to fully mechanized operations) 

• Availability and high cost of input supply (farming/agriculture) 

• Increase in the price of fuel which eventually caused our cost of production to go up.

• Access to new markets (Local and Regional) – due to the fact that persons were not moving freely and being able to reach out to suppliers 

Demand Trends: 

• Most buyers were forced to cut the regular amounts they purchase since they were operating on a rotational basis with staff 

• Supermarkets reduced the number of purchases since their traffic would have also reduced during the pandemic - Generally, there has been a reduction in the total quantity of fresh food supplied monthly.

The floods have done “even more significant damage than the virus itself,” Singh said. This would have drastically reduced the quantities available for supplies. 

“The buyers, even though they would have reduced their quotas, we were still battling to meet the quantities,” the Liaison Officer said, “This opened discussion at the management level for the need for new lands out of the flood zones.”

Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh pointed out that the “constraint on shipping,” has seen “dramatic increases” in freight costs in global shipping.

“I hear stories from members of the private sector who say that they used to be able to land a container say from China to Guyana, at say, maybe three or four thousand dollars a container, now they are paying between nine to twelve thousand dollars a container.”

He said in some cases those costs rose to US$20,000 as there is a scheduling backlog. 

“Whereas you could anticipate your goods will land in a few weeks, now you have to wait three, sometimes as much as six months to get your container landed, so there is a huge disruption in the global supply chain, that has fed through to increased freight costs which inturn would affect the cost of costs landed in Georgetown.”

In August, President Irfaan Ali announced a reduction in freight charges to “pre-pandemic level.”

Dr Singh said these initiatives were aimed at reducing the manner in which imports are taxed. 

“We have taken the decision to adjust the freight cost to pre-covid levels. The effect that that has is that it reduces the CIF value, it reduces particularly the freight component of the CIF value of which the goods are being valued for taxation purposes and we are reducing the taxation, we are going to take on these goods, in order to cushion the impact on the consumers.”

As Guyana prepares for another national budget to be presented soon, it will continue to navigate the impact of the floods and the pandemic on its key agriculture industries.

During our research for this article, we asked the Ministry of Agriculture in Guyana several questions. Below are our questions and responses. 

How the pandemic has affected our local food supplies i.e meat and vegetables, rice and other produce

Disruptions in the food supply chains especially in the high value commodities (fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, milk, etc.) were also evident and restrictions of movement, including aversive behavior by workers, have affected farming and food processing activities. Closures of restaurants and less frequent grocery shopping likewise diminish demand for fresh produce and fisheries products, affecting producers and suppliers while farming, fisheries and aquaculture were observed to be affected by restrictions on tourism, closure of restaurants and school meals suspension.

The Agriculture Sector in Guyana (2021) experienced a conservative decline in the first half of 2021 when compared to the first half of 2020.  The most important food commodities are: meat, eggs, fish and fish products, cereals and fruits and vegetables. The pandemic disrupted the supply chain of agriculture inputs resulting in high prices of fertilizers, veterinary medicines, manufacturing materials and other inputs coupled with the change in demand due to market restrictions as a result of COVID-19 restrictions. 

The temporary closure of the local and international market put upward pressure on the prices for agriculture inputs and the ability to access same for our local producers resulting in a large number of producers for both crop and livestock temporarily suspending their operations. This resulted in a decline in sugar and fruits and vegetables production in the first half of 2021 when compared to the same period in 2020. There were notable declines in the production of vegetables such as bora, cabbage, boulanger, pumpkin, tomato, cucumber and ochro while there were declines in fruits such as watermelon and papaw. 

Also, the actors in the livestock sector experienced difficulties in accessing feed and increased feed prices. The CARICOM-FAO assessment of COVID-19 impacts in 2020, found that an estimated 40% of livestock farmers cited having less animals compared to the same period in 2019 due to the urgent need for cash, increased mortality and inability to feed them. Some livestock households destocked their animals for household consumption. The destocking of animals for household consumption led to a temporary decline of supply of meat causing a severe upward pressure on the price of beef.

Further, in 2020 fishers faced difficulties to market fish, concerns and restrictions related to COVID-19 along with decreased prices of fish resulting in reduced income for fishermen. In 2021, there was a more than 10% decline in marine and aquaculture production. This was mainly caused by the significant decline in the production of whitebelly shrimp, hassar and tambaqui. Nonetheless, there were increases in the production of prawns, red snapper, seabob, tuna and tilapia. Notably, the decline in production in the fisheries industry was influenced by a reduction in the operation of the fishing vessels as a result of high cost and limited access to fuel. Notably, in the first half of 2020, the production of red snapper, tuna and seabob were low as a result of the implementation of COVID-19 measures which led to the closure of the licensing process from April to July and also a reduction in operation of fishing vessels.  

How the floods challenged that food supply

The unexpected wave of flooding that occurred in March to July 2021 in addition to the continued effects of COVID-19 continued to affect the supply chain. The cash crop farmers were largely affected by the extensive flooding countrywide. Most of the crops affected were either at the reproductive or harvesting stages. In the second quarter of 2021, there were significant declines in the production of fruits such as guava, passion fruit, lemon, pineapple and watermelon while there were declines in vegetables and spices such as bora, boulanger, ochro, plantain, pumpkin, tomato, celery, eschallot, and peppers. The damages and losses experienced by the cash crop farmers put severe upward pressure on the price of cash crops which translated to the local and regional markets. 

Additionally, aquaculture producers also indicated that they had challenges accessing their farms as a result of flooding which led to a reduction in their harvesting while sourcing inputs (fish feed) remained one of the larger issues among aquaculture producers. 

Livestock farmers in Region 5 were severely affected by the flooding and milk production declined in the second quarter of 2021 as farmers had limited access to their cattle due to the flooding in Abary, Mahaica and Mahaicony areas. Further, as a result of poor sanitary conditions, there was an increase in the incidence of mastitis among livestock. There were also declines in the production of pork, chevron and eggs. 

What are the common trends seen from March 2020 to now re supply and demands for food products

Overall, there have been declines in fruits and vegetable production included mango, papaw, passionfruit, watermelon, peppers, ginger, bora, boulanger, cabbage, ochro, plantain, tomato and pumpkin. have declined. 

Beef and milk production declined by more than 30% from March 2020 to August 2021. While there were evident increases in the production of poultry meat, chevron, egg, mutton and pork. The increase in poultry production may be attributed to the increase in hatching egg imports and the reentry of several small producers in a bid to capitalize on the price increase that occurred in the first quarter of 2021. As the COVID-19 measures were revised, the re-opening of restaurants and other food establishments in 2021 have led to an increasing demand for meat. Generally, there was a reported increase in the demand for meat by the extractive sector.

The fisheries industry experienced significant declines in the production of almost all species inclusive of finfish, whitebelly, seabob, prawns, red snapper, black shrimp, hassar and tambaqui. Both COVID-19 and the flood affected production. Coupled with the COVID-19 restrictions leading to a reduction in the operations and licensing process in 2020, the marine stock was affected by the excess rainfall as this led to a reduction in the salinity of the sea water which caused marine species such as seabob and whitebelly to go further out, making it difficult for fishermen to capture them.  

Sources: Half Year Report Overview and CARICOM-FAO assessment of COVID-19 impacts on food security and agriculture production and livelihoods

Georgetown, August 12, 2021 (MIC) -

The dawn of vaccination orders 

Cricket, lovely cricket came to Guyana with the West Indies taking on India in T20 in July. Only vaccinated persons were allowed at the two matches as the Guyana’s Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport announced that it was going to allow 40% capacity for fully vaccinated persons. This announcement would signal the government’s intention to implement a more stringent and controversial COVID-19 vaccination programme. Vaccination had started in March 2021 as the government then targeted various groups including frontline workers and the elderly. As April approached other groups were able to access the vaccines.  

But by July, there was an indication that the programme would be headed in another direction as the government aimed to achieve herd immunity. 

The Guyana Defence Force in a “Force Order” issued on the 14th July, 2020 called on soldiers to get vaccinated or face disciplinary action. Those who remain unvaccinated would be required to produce a negative PCR test every 14 days. 

Chief of Staff Gregory Bess described this action as necessary, “We got a responsibility to ensure that our soldiers are fit to defend this country at all costs,” he pointed out, “there is a saying in the GDF and our soldiers know that, that once you join the Guyana Defence Force, it is service first, our bodies belong to the state of Guyana.”

The Chief of Staff said too that the Order has resulted in more soldiers getting vaccinated, “We are having about plus 70% vaccination, there are some units that have 100% vaccination.”

By the 1st August with the new public health measures gazetted, only vaccinated persons could access services at ministries of government, some government offices and dine out at restaurants. “No unvaccinated persons will be granted entry at the Ministry of Housing and Water, Central Housing and Planning Authority…” reads one of several public notices, “except by appointment.”

That ministry sees large numbers of persons daily, most of them accessing housing related services. The Ministry in its notice said that its walk-in service will remain as it is for vaccinated persons who produce proof vaccination. While this government office did not give unvaccinated persons the option of presenting a negative PCR test, others did. 

Additionally, the Ministry of Education started to push for teachers to be fully vaccinated as the government deliberated the reopening of schools which were closed for almost two years. On its social media page, the Ministry of Education published “grading” of schools where teachers were fully vaccinated.

The call for widespread vaccination was also supported by some private sector agencies. Some businesses requested that all staffers be vaccinated before returning to work. The Giftland Group of Companies which operates one of the largest malls in Georgetown mandated its unvaccinated staff to produce weekly negative PCR tests. One of those tests costs US$100. While the company did not say how many of its staff are unvaccinated, it said it will not be hiring persons who are unvaccinated. 

Unvaccinated staffers at the Maritime Department were sent home and told to return to work when vaccinated, one media house reported. Those staffers were told they would not be compensated for days of missed work. 

https://newssourcegy.com/news/maritime-administration-sends-home-all-unvaccinated-staffers/

These public health measures were all challenged in different ways. Small pockets of picketing were held daily by several groups including political parties as they challenged the public health regulations by claiming the vaccination requirement is a violation of persons human rights. 

One of the largest trade unions, the Guyana Public Service Union said it was concerned about the “discriminatory” nature of the guidelines which it says targets persons who are unvaccinated. The union said too that vaccination should be voluntary as it called on the government to ensure the many existing protocols and reintroduce a stringent curfew which it says can reduce the spread of the coronavirus. 

 The new public health measures also mandate that operators of public transportation be vaccinated. Every operator and conductor in any public transportation “shall be vaccinated” the health measures read, proof of their vaccination and identification document should be presented to the police or persons authorised by the Ministry of Health. The health regulation said that failure to comply with the measures would be treated as an offence. 

Additionally, the measures also mandated that persons entering the country through the international airport, be vaccinated. 

Mandatory vaccination ? That is the question 

By the end of July, some 247,940 Guyanese received the first dose of the vaccines, Minister of Health, Dr Anthony said as he estimated that number to be some 50.9% of the country’s adult population. Some 130,185 persons received the second dose of the vaccine, some 26.9% of the country’s adult population. 

With all the regulations in place, the government was asked whether mandatory COVID-19 vaccines are on the legislative agenda. Dr Anthony said the government will monitor the situation, “we are looking at what is evolving from an epidemiological point of view,” the minister said, “and we would take all the steps to ensure that people are protected.”

Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali was equally cautious in his response to a similar question posed to him in July, “Look this is a pandemic, this is not a joke and you have to get tough sometimes,” the President told members of the media. While he stayed away from indicating whether the government would embrace mandatory vaccination, he hinted at this support for agencies which have put mandatory vaccination measures in place. 

President Ali feels that such measures are necessary, “whatever measures we put in place has to bring balance to the equation,” he said while noting that the government plans to reopen schools, “teachers have to be vaccinated to create the conditions to get back to schools.”

Hesitancy 

Jason Butters, a father of one, does not trust “the science” behind the vaccines. He has not been vaccinated. “There is a lack of trust in terms of the timing it took to create the vaccines,” the man said, “so I believe that putting my life at that type of risk, I don’t trust the science so much in that short period to depend heavily on the vaccine.” 

Butters had taken other vaccines as a child. He felt that the public health measures demanding vaccination have placed tremendous pressure on him, “I feel kind of backed up into a wall where I am being forced to take a vaccine because I cannot enjoy certain entertainment, I can’t travel like I want to,” the man said, “presently I don’t know how I am going to get around all of this.”

Minister of Health Dr Anthony listed misinformation and distrust as two major issues affecting the COVID-19 vaccination campaign. “I think sometimes the person who consumes this type of information, they don’t like to use a critical mind to assess what is being said,” he declared.  The Minister pointed out that social media has been used as a vehicle to drive this misinformation. He said that persons who are “not science based” have been spreading myths about the vaccines, “that has certainly led to people becoming confused and hesitant in certain instances.” 

Herd immunity

To achieve herd immunity, some 500,000 Guyanese would have to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. By August, more than 130,000 were fully vaccinated and more than 245,000 who had received their first dose of vaccines. Dr Anthony is convinced that uptake of the vaccines continues to reduce Guyana’s efforts to reach herd immunity. 

“Delivery of vaccines is not the issue, we have the vaccines, we have enough vaccines for every adult in the country,” he declared, “What is the issue is the uptake of vaccines, so we have to keep encouraging people to come out and get vaccinated.”

The Minister estimated that some 20% of persons within the 60 years and older age group are still to be vaccinated and some 60% of persons between the 20-40 age group are also still to be vaccinated. 

Meanwhile, by July there were complaints about the shortage of 2nd dose of the Sputnik Vaccines. 48 year old Dianne Alli works in a mining company and spends about six weeks in Guyana’s interior. She had her first dose of sputnik vaccine about two months ago and was due for her second dose four weeks after. 

“I have not been able to get the 2nd dose and I don’t know what that means for my protection against COVID,” Alli said, “I have been to more than one places, the drive thrus, anywhere I see offering the vaccines, but they are all out of 2nd doses of Sputnik.”

Vaccine Acquisition 

Guyana’s acquisition of the sputnik vaccine through Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook al-Moaktou and Norwegian businessman Jacques Sarraf has been highly criticized by Guyana’s main opposition party, the coalition of A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance for Chance. 

The acquisition was dubbed a secret deal between the Guyana government and the Shiekh who along with the businessman had visited Guyana in late 2020. In June, Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon called on the government to suspend the use of the Sputnik V until these vaccines could be “authenticated.”

“We demand that these vaccines be put on hold until the population is given an assurance that what we are dealing with is not a bogus transaction,” Harmon told the media in June. 

The government in a speedy response to Harmon said stand by the vaccines and the process to acquire them. A position that President Ali still maintains, “our focus was on getting the vaccines, I’ve made this point a million times,” he told reporters on the side line of an event at State House, “my only focus and the focus of the government is the process of the lives of the people of Guyana.”

The President maintained that there is “no price to the lives” of Guyanese as he said his government tried to acquire vaccines very early on, “we tried every single source, we tried every single manufacturer, we tried every single embassy,” he stressed, “we got it from this source and the only thing that matters to me is that were were able to get it.”

While the government has not been able to provide a price tag on vaccines acquired to date, Minister of Health Dr Anthony speaking in parliament estimated that the cost for acquisition and logistics could be as high as $2.2 billion. 

Guyana acquired AstraZeneca vaccines through the COVAX facility and donations from countries like the UK and India, it purchased some one hundred doses of Sinopharm, 244,000 Sputnik V from its arrangement with Sheikh and it has paid for some 34,000 Johnson & Johnson from the manufacturer. Those are yet to be delivered.

Georgetown, JUNE 1, 2021 (MIC) -

By the start of June, Guyana had recorded more than 16,900 COVID-19 cases and 389 deaths. Guyana’s first COVID-19 case was recorded in March 2020. 

The month of May 2021 saw the highest spike in the COVID-19 cases, 3804 new cases were reported in that month, with 271 cases and 236 cases on two separate days, the highest number of cases reported. Based on the Ministry of Health’s dashboard, the largest number of cases are recorded in Region 4, followed by Region 3.

To date some 389 deaths were recorded. May was the deadliest month, 94 deaths were recorded. 64 deaths were recorded in June and 39 deaths were recorded in March. 15 and 19 deaths were recorded in January and February respectively.

Vaccines

By June 1, some 201,347 adults were vaccinated, according to the Ministry of Health. Between February and April, some 39,000 persons were vaccinated according to the Ministry.

Vaccines were sourced through the COVAX facility and from Russia and China. Vaccination against COVID-19 started in February 2021 with a donation of  3,000 doses of Astrazeneca vaccines from Barbados. By the end of March, Guyana had received a total of 152,000 vaccines. These were sourced from Russia,China, India and through the COVAX facility. 

By the end of May, the Ministry of Health said that it was continuing and expanding vaccination efforts as listed the vaccines that were available and their dosage. 

By June 1st, 2021, another batch of Sputnik V had arrived in Guyana to complement the vaccination campaign.

FUNDING: 

No new funding was recorded over the period since our last report. Guyana’s COVID- 19 fight continues to be funded through three sources, government funds, loans and donations of cash and supplies.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Malcolm Watkins said that based on figures, including the government budgets over the two years, two major loans and estimated costs of supplies donated, expenditure both projected and real stand at some $24 billion. These sums are being used to ensure the functionality of the Infectious Diseases Hospital, acquisition of vaccines as well as PPEs and needed medical supplies as well as awareness campaigns.

The Permanent Secretary explained that government funds are being used for “three approaches”:

1. Care and treatment - hospital care, providing beds and equipment, medical supplies

2. Prevention - vaccination, awareness campaigns, media roll outs etc

3. Infrastructural development - Expansion of buildings, treatment and care facilities etc 

The donor funds come in as a “complementary factor to bridge the gaps,” Wakins told MIC COVID-19 HUB, “So either through cash or kind or loans, we ask for things that we are not able to readily have available,” Watkins told us, these include oxygen generators and specialised equipment, “and we try to get those support through bilateral or multilateral arrangements that compliment our government funds,” Watkins explained.

MIC COVID-19 HUB examined the two major loans that provided major funding to Guyana for several COVID-19 related projects.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)

In 2020, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) had announced approval of a $22 million loan under the Contingent Credit Facility for Natural Disaster and Public Health Emergencies. This is to finance “public expenditure” aimed at containing the transmission of COVID-19 and is also expected to, among other things, aid the implementation of Guyana’s strategic response plan, purchase medical and laboratory equipment, personal protective equipment etc is now being tapped into to reimburse purchases made for COVID-19 health supplies. 

In April,  Sophie Makonnen, IDB-Guyana Country Representative, explained that there was an extension of the timeline for approval of expenses to be reimbursed via the CCF, from December 2020 to the end of 2021. 

Permanent Secretary Watkins confirmed that the process for reimbursement has begun, "So now, what we are doing is not the physical transfer of cash to the Ministry,” he pointed out, “the ministry is providing our bills to the Finance (ministry), to our audit department, our Auditor General Department, who verifies these documentation,” he explained, “its gets a no objections from the IDB, the IDB says it is worth the reimbursement and then the IDB would send the money to the Consolidated Fund which is Ministry of Finance control.”

That sum, the US$22 million has not been exhausted, “It is not fully validated, which means, passed through the Auditor General’s office, about 50% of that sum, approximately USS10-US$11 Million,” have been “validated” and sums reimbursed, Watkins explained.

PPEs, masks and gloves are among the items the ministry was reimbursed for under this arrangement with the IDB, the Permanent Secretary explained. He said that ministry was also reimbursed sums used for salaries, risk allowances but the “bulk of reimbursements” so far centred on medical supplies, “what happened in the beginning of the pandemic, is that items such as masks were extremely expensive, so you find that those bills were very substantial, so it's mainly goods, its mainly for PPEs, equipment that was purchased in the past.”

Permanent Secretary Watkins said that this “retroactive reimbursement” can assist the government to recuperate some of the funds spent in the earlier fight against the pandemic. 

WORLD BANK

The World Bank approved US$7.5 million for Guyana’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Project in November 2020. This loan is expected to be used to strengthen laboratory capacity, screening and surveillance, improve contact tracing, equip health care facilities and prepare the health care system for the deployment of COVID-19 vaccines. 

Permanent Secretary Watkins who walked us through the processes with the donor agencies explained that this loan came with certain conditions, which was inclusive of community support, monitoring and evaluation, risk mitigations among others. 

Some 80% of this loan has to be used to purchase medical equipment and supplies as well as fund transportation costs, Watkins told us, “We agreed to the World Bank guided procurement mechanisms,which we have to use their platform, use their procurement system and we identify a local specialist who knows their projects,” he explained, “then we work with the World Bank consultant who guides them on the procurement for the World Bank.”

The Ministry of Health and the World Bank have agreed on a list of items to be procured. “Now we are presently providing specifications and justifying each item in various platforms, so that we can move to execution of purchase.”

The list of items is being generated based on “two principles” the Permanent Secretary pointed out, “one to fill the gap, what do we need that is critical that we cannot afford and also the list designed to cover the ten regions.”

The Ministry of Health wants to use some of these funds to decentralise its testing and other services related to the COVID-19 pandemic, “We would have a PCR testing machine at the central level which is centralised and requires a huge infrastructure to make work, but if we want to do mobile, PCR testing, it is a different type of machine,” Watkins said, “what we are trying to do with out list, is incorporate we can enhance the regional system, so along that line, you find that we are buying point of care machines, patient monitors, more beds, transportation system, refrigerator systems,” he explained.

After the World Bank guided submission process, once approved the public tendering process has to be followed, “We would have a bid document and publish it in the newspapers.” This is opened for both local and international businesses,  Permanent Secretary Watkins explained, “the tendering process would occur within that 60-90 days period,” once a company is identified, the process moves to signing the contract to provide the supplies, “we are not at the tendering process yet, we are getting close to it, in a manner of weeks,” he told us. 

These processes require a certain level of scrutiny to ensure objectivity and transparency, the Permanent Secretary tells us, “the time for publishing, for example, we are not able to reduce that time too short, so it is a minimum of 21 days to be in the (news) papers,” he explained, “and we still have to stick to that.”

PAHO/WHO

In July, 2020 Guyana also benefited from a US$1 million grant through the Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility which is administered by the World Bank and disbursed to PAHO/WHO. With this funding, PAHO/WHO procured essential medical supplies as well as the financing of the Health Emergency Operation Centre and key Points of Entry at borders to provide essential medical services. In early June, PAHO/WHO donated another bath of essential items to the Ministry of Health. Those items were procured by PAHO/WHO using funds from this grant and from the Government of Canada’s Caribbean Disaster Risk Management programme.

“As PAHO, we have had some resources, what we are doing, we are working with some donors like World Bank, Canada and other countries who support the Ministry of Health,” Dr Luis F. Condina, PAHO/WHO Guyana Representative told MIC COVID19-HUB recently. 

PAHO/WHO works with a list of needs from the Ministry of Health and the local office is not involved in the procurement of goods, “ We have a centre for procurement in Washington, so we send the needs and they procure with the lowest prices in the region,” Dr Condina explained, “but with all the countries together, if I need to buy PPEs, Costa Rica is asking to buy also, Brazil is asking to buy and they say $30 million of PPEs, Guyana is in this block, so the prices goes down and it’s a good price for donors and for PAHO.” 

https://www.paho.org/en/news/2-6-2021-pahowho-continues-collaborate-partners-support-guyanas-preparedness-and-response

Georgetown, April 3, 2021 (MIC) -

By the end of March 2021 Guyana had recorded some 10,540 COVID-19 cases since its first case was recorded in March 2020. Between March 1st-April 3rd 2021 some 36 deaths were recorded bringing Guyana’s total number of COVID-19 deaths since March 2020 to 250 by the 6th April,2021. The highest number of infections continue to be recorded in the country’s most populous region, Region 4 followed by Regions 3 and 2.

 Guyana’s health authorities started its vaccine rollout in Guyana as early as February 2021 with a donation of  3,000 doses of Astrazeneca vaccines from Barbados. By the end of March, Guyana had received a total of 152,000 vaccines with 25,000 from Russia, 20,000 doses from China, 80,000 doses from India,      24,000 doses from COVAX and 25,000 doses procured from the UAE (via Russia).

 Guyana received its first shipment of vaccines through the COVAX Facility in March.

The 24,000 doses were less than expected. Guyana had initially expected more than 100,800 doses of vaccines. But Pan-American Health Organisation said that Guyana is expected to continue receiving more doses through May until it reaches 100,800, the amount initially specified by COVAX.

Within March, Guyana had vaccinated some 36,000 persons. The vaccination started with health workers and persons older than 60 years of age then moved to persons older than 50 and 40 years old respectively.

 On April 1, the Ministry of Health reported that some 39,831 doses of vaccines were administered across all the 10 regions.  

New Funding

Guyana is one of six Caribbean countries that will benefit from some US$950,000 through the Pan American Health Organisation with support from the Government of Canada.

This sum is expected to be used to acquire personal protection equipment, laboratory and medical equipment a release from PAHO said.

There is no information to suggest how much of this sum will go towards Guyana.

Update on previous funding

Inter-American Development Bank

Based on our previous report Guyana, the World Bank and the Inter-American Bank (IDB) provided major funding to Guyana for several COVID-19 related projects.

The IDB had announced approval of a $22 million loan under the Contingent Credit Facility for Natural Disaster and Public Health Emergencies to finance “public expenditure” aimed at containing the transmission of COVID-19. This loan which is expected to, among other things, aid the implementation of Guyana’s strategic response plan, purchase medical and laboratory equipment, personal protective equipment etc is now being tapped into to reimburse purchases made for COVID-19 health supplies. Sophie Makonnen, IDB-Guyana Country Representative explained that there was an extension of the timeline for approval of expenses to be reimbursed via the CCF, from December 2020 to the end of 2021.

Guyana’s Ministry of Health has been conducting purchases through public tender for COVID-19 supplies for the country, based on these purchases, this reimbursement mechanism allows for the submission of contracts, procurement documents, tender board awards and payment vouchers to the IDB. These documents have to be authenticated and audited. Once these purchases are validated, the Ministry of Health would be reimbursed for these purchases from the $22 million.

Additionally, the Ministry of Health can request the release of the remainder of the funds to be used for future and current purchases.

There is no indication that the reimbursement process has started.

World Bank

The World Bank approved US$7.5 million for Guyana’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Project in November 2020. This loan is expected to be used to strengthen laboratory capacity, screening and surveillance, improve contact tracing, equip health care facilities and prepare the health care system for the deployment of COVID-19 vaccines.

The Ministry of Health confirmed that a “procurement mechanism” is in place with the World Bank for the purchase of PPEs especially masks and other supplies including capital equipment, a vehicle.

The Ministry of Health confirmed that a list is now “under” the World Bank procurement process which is ongoing.

By the time this loan was approved, the World Bank was already contributing to the government’s response to the pandemic. “Guyana benefitted from a $1m grant through the World Bank administered Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility (PEF).” the Bank said.

This grant which was disbursed to PAHO/WHO saw support to the education sector to promote smart classrooms, modify national assessments among other things.

Georgetown, February 28, 2021 (MIC) -

To date, Guyana recorded its first COVID- 19 case in March 2020. The first known case, an imported one, was a woman who traveled from the United States. It was only after the woman died, that authorities said the symptoms she displayed were consistent with the coronavirus, tests later confirmed this. 

Todate, there are some 8,500 cases recorded by the Ministry of Health. As of 25th February 2021, 195 deaths were recorded. The highest number of new cases recorded in one day is 133, the lowest number is 1.

Source: https://www.who.int/countries/guy

Males make up the majority of cases recorded by the Ministry of Health. The highest number of cases come from Region 4, the most populated out of the ten regions. The second highest number of cases come from Region 1, which borders neighbouring Venezuela. It is believed that the high traffic of migrants as well as cross border movement between the unregulated border crossing has resulted in the high number of cases. 

Most persons can access testing from several public health facilities as well as private laboratories. Once tested positive, depending on the symptoms displayed, most persons are asked to quarantine at home, others would have to be admitted for institutional care. The Georgetown Public Hospital initially housed all persons severely affected and who needed critical care. The government has now transferred all patients to a facility retrofitted for patients affected by COVID-19. The Ministry of Health typically updates the public on the new cases and other information using a dashboard as seen below.

Source: Ministry of Health, Facebook page 

Additionally, the vaccination process to combat the pandemic has started. The Ministry of Health received its first tranche of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines from the government of Barbados in February, 2021. That tranche of 3000 vaccines,is a donation from the government of India. Frontline workers are the first to receive the vaccines. Some 1800 healthcare workers have received the vaccines. 

Source: https://newsroom.gy/2021/02/22/

Guyana’s COVID-19 Relief attracts foreign funding:

World Bank: 

Guyana benefitted from two major loans for COVID-19 “relief” as well as “response”. The World Bank in November 2020 approved US$7.5 million for Guyana’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Project aimed at tackling the pandemic and strengthening the country’s health system. 

According to the Project Information Document, Guyana’s development and health efforts which have been challenged by the impacts of climate change may further “exacerbate the impacts of COVID-19.”

The government through the Ministry of Health activated the Health Emergency Operations Centre to oversee the implementation of its COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Plan (COVID-19 PRP). In an assessment done, several risks and concerns were identified, “ One of the main risks identified in the COVID-19 PRP, concerns the vulnerability to imported COVID-19 cases, as Guyana has unofficial points of entry with no screening facilities and human resource capacities. Other major risks concern difficulties in implementing physical distancing measures and limited health system’s capacity.” 

“The health system lacks adequate supplies, equipment, and personnel to respond to the outbreak, especially in the hinterland regions. Because of the substantial increase in COVID-19 active cases over August and September 2020, the MOH requested additional resources to finance its COVID-19 PRP and improve and decentralize the health system’s capacity in testing and treatment.” 

These funds are aimed at: 

• strengthening laboratory capacity; 

• supporting screening and surveillance

• improving contact tracing; 

• equipping health care facilities for treatment of COVID-19 patients;

• targeting communities including hinterland locations for contact tracing; 

•  targeting communities including hinterland locations to provide psychosocial support; 

• Provide the translation of risk communication materials into local languages; 

• Preparing the health system for the deployment of COVID 19 vaccine.

The first tranche of this funding is yet to be distributed, Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony confirmed, “We have just, maybe about to weeks ago, met the conditions for first disbursement, and so now that we have met those conditions, we are expecting we will get the release of funding,” Minister Anthony told MIC COVID HUB.

“We had to submit to them (World Bank) a procurement plan, things that we want to buy, how many timelines and so forth, once they agree with that, then they will release the money for us to go ahead.”  

The World Bank had previously allocated a US$1 million grant to PAHO/WHO for Guyana through the Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility (PEF) to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. That money was given directly to PAHO/WHO and not the government of Guyana. 

Source: https://fts.unocha.org/donors/

Inter-American Development Bank

The Inter-American Development Bank announced the approval of a US$22 million loan to Guyana under the Contingent Credit Facility for Natural Disaster and Public Health Emergencies. This was to finance public expenditure to contain the transmission of COVID 19 and to mitigate further health and economic consequences. 

This loan was expected to: 

• Aid the implementation of Guyana’s strategic response plan to COVID -19 

• Purchase medical and laboratory equipment, ambulances, personal protective equipment for health officers, surveillance officers and border personnel. 

Guyana was unable to “put together” its proposal for this loan, Minister Anthony said. The funding window closed by the end of December and even though it was extended, Guyana was unable to finalise its proposal. Instead, a new arrangement is in place. 

“What they (IDB) has said to us, is that they can allow us to, things that we would have bought already, once they can verify that it has met the right procurement guidelines and it went through all the right processes, and so forth, that they would now reimburse us for those items, so the team is pretty much working on that to produce a list of items that were bought for COVID, equipment and and different types of things and then we will give them, that list, to the IDB, and they would vet those things, and have their auditors go through them. Once we can have an agreement, then they would fund these,” Minister Anthony told COVID HUB

 Guyana expects to be reimbursed for a number of expenses related to the pandemic under this arrangement. At the time of reporting, the National Assembly was meeting to pass the government’s 2021 national budget.