The People’s National Congress Reform, which is the largest party in the APNU+AFC Opposition Coalition, has issued a new call for the government to become transparent with the people of Guyana on the COVID-19 situation.
In a statement early this morning, the PNC Reform said the government’s mismanagement of the pandemic continues to see greater spread with little information being shared with the population.
“In just one day we have recorded approximately 485 cases tested positive and we are not clear whether all of the testing for that period has been addressed. We are also unable to say what is the backlog in relation to specimens to be tested”, the party said.
According to the PNC, citizens have been deprived of their right to know the status of the efforts by the government to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
The party pointed out that there is a lack of access to information on the circulating variants especially whether OMICRON is in Guyana or not and there is also no available Epidemiological Data being provided by the Government.
While the Government has not confirmed the presence of the Omicron variant, the Minister of Health has said that based on the current increase in new cases, it is clear that the faster-spreading variant is in the country.
The PNC raised concerns about the closure of a number of testing sites across the country and the apparent shortage of testing kits at public facilities. The party said it is also concerned about the Ministry of Education’s decision to reopen schools at this time for face-to-face learning when many of the schools have not been prepared to cope with school life in the pandemic.
“In front of our very eyes we are witnessing a global upsurge and to make matters worse as a country we are unable to speak with any degree of certainty how this situation is being addressed to protect the health of the population. The Minister of Health has no answers and as a consequence we are a nation in a major state of uncertainty”, the party noted.
The PNC Reform said the government needs to embrace truth and transparency in providing the nation with the information which would guide citizens in taking the necessary actions to protect themselves.
Citizens are also being encouraged by the party to embrace public health guidelines of social distancing and masking coupled with vaccination.
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