Despite measures being put in place to safeguard prisoners and prison officers, a number of new cases of Coronavirus have been recorded at three of the country’s prisons.

Health Minister Dr. Frank Anthony told the National Assembly this afternoon, that 16 new COVID cases have been recorded at the Lusignan Prison while there are 33 prisoners who have tested positive at the Timehri Prison.

Additionally, 4 Prison Officers and 1 prisoner have tested positive for the virus at the New Amsterdam prison.

The Health Minister said all of those who tested positive have been isolated and additional measures are being put in place to safeguard other prisoners and prison staff.

“Since September last year, we have added more nurses and doctors to the prison service, so that they can help in protecting lives… We have put new measures in place when there is an intake of a new prisoner, things that they will have to go through including screening and so forth”, Dr. Anthony said.

Back in September, there was a major outbreak of coronavirus in the Lusignan Prison when more than 200 cases were detected.

Those persons were removed from the prison and placed in isolation at a government facility along the Linden Soesdyke Highway.

Since then, there have been ongoing efforts to stem the spread within the prison system.

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