Georgetown: Eight ranks of the Presidential Guard Unit were tested positive with the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and are recovering, the Guyana Police Force Wednesday confirmed.
Police Public Relations Officer Superintendent Jairam Ramlakhan said the ranks were tested “recently.”
“Please note that the ranks are not from the VIP close protection section but are all part of the Special Protective Service (SPS),” the Police Public Relations Officer noted.
He said, “as result of the presence of COVID-19 in Guyana, the Presidential Guard Unit in conformity with the guidelines given by the Ministry of Health, conducted random testing on ranks within the department.”
The Police PRO noted that “eight ranks of the uniform section were tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. They are currently convalescing in quarantine.”
The Superintendent explained that there is a uniformed section and a plainclothes section of the Presidential Guard Unit.
The uniformed ranks are not the ones who usually accompany the President but are assigned to providing security at State House –the President’s residence –and the Office of the President.
This development would mean that the authorities would have to do a lot of contact tracing with the relatives and friends of those who tested positive.
As of May 20, 2020, 1,295 tests have now been conducted with 1170 negative results.
Of the 125 cases, only 68 are active cases with Guyana having recorded 10 deaths.
The 68 active cases remain in isolation at various facilities across Guyana while 6 others are in quarantine and 3 critical patients are in the COVID-19 ICU at the GPHC.
The virus has continued to spread to several communities along the coast and more recently, the Hinterland. Seven of the Ten Administrative Regions now have positive cases of the virus.
Globally, there are 4,801,202 confirmed cases with 318,935 deaths. In the Region of the Americas, the number of confirmed cases stands at 2,105,670 with deaths increasing by 1,176 to stand at 125,843.
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