‘Guyanese have to understand that this is not a joke’

– President Ali
– urges the public to act responsibly to curb Covid

His Excellency, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali says while the Government has stepped up enforcement of the gazetted COVID-19 guidelines, it is imperative that Guyanese act responsibly to protect themselves against the disease.

President Ali made this call on the side-lines of the swearing-in of the Local Government Commission at the Office of the President on Monday.

“You would have seen that we have stepped up tremendously. The Task Force has been doing more patrols. They are more aggressive… The Task Force is there every night until 3AM, 4AM in the mornings. But the people have the responsibility too.

Guyanese have to understand that this is not a joke. This is their lives that they are playing with. You can’t put your life in the hands of the Task Force.  You have to have a value for your life and if you don’t understand that your life has a value then at least understand that your actions will impact other persons lives, and appreciate the value that other people place on their lives.”

President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali

President Ali also condemned a recent incident where citizens who were arrested for breaching the national curfew and sent to board a Guyana Defence Force bus were seen jumping through the windows.

“If you look at the army bus the other night, and, you know I see responsible people sharing this on social media as if this is some big joke. The reckless behaviour in that bus – and people I hope with great levels of responsibility and high levels of education sharing it as if it was a joke. What they were behaving with in that bus is reckless! It’s reckless!”

The Head of State said Guyanese have to act as a responsible collective as the country looks to fight the disease which has infected over 11,000 citizens and has taken the lives of 258 people.

While the Ministry of Health’s vaccination campaign is moving apace, more persons need to get immunised. To date, more than 60,000 people have received their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The second batch of Sputnik V vaccine from Russia arrived in Guyana on Monday. Minister of Health, Hon. Dr Frank Anthony, in his COVID-19 update today said the 30,000 doses will be used to ramp up the country’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

“I think a lot of people were happy to be able to get their vaccine and what the Ministry is trying to do, we’re trying to get as much people vaccinated as quickly as possible.

And we are doing that by having fixed sites where people during the week, they know where to go. And then, we have in between those fixed sites that we have around the country, we also have mobile sites,” the Minister said. He added that mobile sites are set up in collaboration with several religious, civic or non-governmental organisations within the communities. Easily accessible public facilities within the communities are also being utilised.

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