Guyana shuts down airports after COVID-19 death, all quarantine now in gov't facility
Published:Tuesday | March 17, 2020 | 12:00 AM
Guyana, the only Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country to have recorded a fatal coronavirus (COVID-19) case, on Tuesday announced the closure of its international airports as well as a ban on self-imposed quarantine as it deals with the impact of the virus that has killed more than 6,000 people worldwide.
Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Egbert Field, told a news conference that the Cheddi Jagan International Airport at Timehri and the Eugene Correia Airport at Ogle would be closed to all international flights for 14 days.
Field said the closures will take effect from Wednesday at midnight and that the only exceptions will be cargo flights, planes that have to make technical stops and special authorised flights.
He told reporters that while local air travel will still be allowed they would be closely monitored and that the CAA has been working closely with the Ministry of Public Health on the issue.
In cases where arriving passengers might have been exposed to the coronavirus, the Civil Aviation Authority has been providing the Health Ministry with the contact information for those passengers.
Field said the CAA has been conducting inspections at the airports to ensure they have all systems in place to address a health emergency and that the inspections will continue during the closure.
Meanwhile, Public Health Minister, Volda Lawrence, said there would be "0 more self-quarantine" and that all persons subjected to quarantine are now in one of four established health ministry facilities.
She said testing kits are available in country at this time and that the Health Ministry is expecting a large shipment.
"These should have been already in Guyana. The delays seems to have been caused by closure of some ports," she added.
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