Progress being made in St Cuthbert’s Mission

Minister of Health, Hon. Dr. Frank Anthony says active COVID-19 cases continue to decline in St. Cuthbert’s Mission, even as monitoring of infected persons continues, particularly those who are asymptomatic.

The Minister made this disclosure in his Friday COVID-19 update.

“We have been monitoring people and once the attendee [met the] asymptomatic deadline, we discharged. However, at the moment, at least 11 persons are asymptomatic and we are paying close attention to them, the asymptomatic, because we don’t want anything to go wrong with them.”

While the World Health Organization has said there is still much to learn about the disease, evidence suggests that people with symptoms are most contagious and asymptomatic persons are less likely to transmit the disease.

As such, measures remain in place in St. Cuthbert’s Mission to treat any patient whose condition worsens.

With regard to the other regions being monitored, Dr. Anthony said health officials are pleased that Kwebanna, Barima-Waini (Region One) is now COVID-19 free. This has been credited to compliance, collaboration and the support of the community.

“We are extremely happy that right now we are not recording any cases, a couple of things the team would normally do, but the main one is really working with the Village Council to ensure that the residents … comply,” he said.

The Minister emphasised that positive results were only possible because residents complied with the guidelines officials put in place to manage the disease and reduce transmission.

“If we don’t have compliance, then we would see an escalation of cases.  So, we have been able to get that compliance and we feel where people are more compliant with the guidelines, then we are able to actively reduce the cases. In addition to that of course, we put measures like restriction of movements,” Dr. Anthony explained.

Meanwhile, monitoring is ongoing in Warapoka, Region One, where cases have remained stable over the past week.  Bartica, Cuyuni-Mazaruni (Region Seven) which showed a spike on Monday, also remains stable with 43 active cases.  

Minister Anthony is appealing to community leaders to educate residents about the dangers of the disease and to encourage them to observe the preventative measures.