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ONLINE DAILY NEWSPAPER

Friday March 12, 2021

Pg7

Guyana gets US$61 M from recent oil sale

Pg6

National Grade Six exams billed for August 4

Pg7

SHIPPERS OF COCAINE IN SALTFISH REMANDED

Guyana Post Friday March 12, 2021

GUYANA GETS US$61 M National Grade Six exams FROM RECENT OIL SALE billed for August 4

Just over a year since Guyana made the move to have oil production at the Stabroek block offshore, the country has now earned its fifth lift.

On this lift, Guyana has earned US$61 million for around one million barrels of crude sold, which takes the today sale since oil production to over US$246 Million.

Guyana earned over US$49 million on the fourth lift, during

the time when the COVID-19 pandemic hit countries around the world hard and oil prices plummeted.

However, as the world market continues to recover, Guyana now having sold oil at $61 per barrel, the country has gotten almost double what it got in May 2020, when the price was in the mid-US$30 range. A month before this, U.S. crude plunged deep into

negative territory and Brent dropped below $20 per barrel.

As of now, production in Guyana at the Liza Phase 1 Development remains robust at around 120,000 bpd, despite some recent challenges with a gas compressor onboard the Liza Destiny FPSO. The equipment has been repaired in Germany and is expected to be returned soon.

With Guyana still in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic, the sitting of the National Grade Six Examination will be on August 4 and August 5.

Ahead of the exams, there will be two mock exams.

This was announced by the Minister of Education, Ms. Priya Manickchand, during a press conference held by the Ministry today.

It was maintained that under consultation with several stakeholders, it was suggested that exams be held.

It was noted that candidates will be given the opportunity to sit the

exams for placement in the various Secondary schools under a consolidated curriculum, one of which will see some study areas being omitted.

“What we did…usually, you would have 40 weeks of learning, we did not add anything new at all, that would be wholly unfair and impractical at this stage.

“What we did was subtract from the 40 weeks what we thought would have been covered already or will be covered later on. So, what is left is what the experts here at the Ministry of Education and international believe

children at that level, will have the skills actually needed.”

Given the timespan now, parents and teachers will have a 20-week teaching period to prepare their children for the sitting of the Exam.

There will be online, and small group face-toface learning, through the learning channel and through materials posted on the Ministry of Education Website.

With some 14,300 Grade Six pupils enlisted to sit the exams, these pupils will be given a “Care Package” containing worksheets, books, etc that will directly tie into the areas of learning However, those from private schools will not benefit from the packages but the school will be giving the curriculum to ensure that who will be sitting the exams will be able to follow.

SHIPPERS OF COCAINE IN SALTFISH REMANDED 11-YEAR-OLD KILLED DURING ROBBERY

Just five days after over seven pounds of Cocaine was discovered by ranks of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit in the backbone, of several pieces of saltfish, a shipper and supplier were this afternoon remanded to jail.

The two accused, info@guyanapostonline.com

Navindra Sarwan, called Tall Man, of First Field Cummings Lodge, and his supplier, Adrian David, of Shell Road, Kitty, both appeared before Magistrate Judy Latchman and denied the allegation made against them.

As such, the two were

remanded to prison until April 15, when the matter will be called again.

According to the charge, the two between March 7 and March 8, in First Field Cummings Lodge and Amerijet Cargo Shed, at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport trafficked 3.304

kilograms of Cocaine in Saltfish.

Reports are on March 8, ranks inspected a Shipment from Sarwan that was listed to head to Miami.

Upon examination, the fish was examined and it was discovered that the backbones of the salted fish were tampered with.

A deeper examination ve found that substances wrapped in plastic and pencil-shaped were found in over 200 pieces of fish.

Sarwan was immediately contacted and he disclosed the identity of the supplier.

The supplier was later arrested at his home, with several replicas of the same fish shipment material in his house.

Both of them were immediately arrested and later processed for court.

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Guyana Police Force is currently investigating an alleged murder of an 11-year-boy in the Sophia area.

The dead young man is identified as Anthony Cort, a Student.

Cort was reportedly shot dead by one of two bandits during a robbery early today.

Investigations reveal that the child was with his mother two houses from where he resides when two males wearing face masks and armed with handguns invaded the property belonging to a 44-year-old businesswoman.

However, during the time of the incident, the young boy was in the upper flat of the home located st. C Field Sophia in the company of others when the bandits

approached the victims at the said bottom flat and held them at gunpoint.

The Bandits relieved those present two cellphones valued at $80,000 each, two gold bands valued at $100,000, two gold finger rings valued at $100,000, one gold chain valued at $100,000 and $80,000 cash.

The bandit then ordered those there to the upper flat of the house via a northern door during which Cort was about to exit a northeastern bedroom when one of the suspects discharged a round hitting Anthony to his left upper shoulder.

The suspects then ran north, jumped a zinc fence and made good their escape. One 9MM spent shell was found near the body.

Guyana Post Friday March 12, 2021

LAING HOUSING SCHEME MAN DIAGNOSED WITH LEPTOSPIROSIS FOUND DEAD ON MIDDLE STREET From Aljazeera

Police are currently investigating the circumstances that led to the death of a man that was found dead on a pavement in Middle Street in the city.

The deadman has been identified as 55-year-old, Winston

Blackette Lot 6 Laing Housing Scheme North Ruimveldt.

Reports are that it was just around 21:00 hours when the body was discovered in front of then Zoom Online Shopping of Middle Street, Georgetown.

Upon seeing the

man, Crime Scene Technicians (CST) were summoned.

When they found the man blood was seen about the body but the police have since ruled out foul play since there were no marks of violence about the body.

According to the force, the deceased was clad in a red and black sweater, black jersey and long black jeans and black rubber slippers, and a hospital name tag on his right wrist.

Further investigation revealed that days

before, the now dead man visited the Georgetown Public Hospital complaining of chest pains and swollen feet.

He was seen and examined by a doctor on duty and was subsequently diagnosed with

leptospirosis and was thereafter admitted as a patient in the Male Surgical Ward. he was not discharged based on hospital records.

The man reportedly has escaped the institution and might have fallen even more ill that led to his death.

Utah mother dies four days after receiving second dose of Moderna’s Covid vaccine (Yahoo News)

A Utah mother has died just four days after she received the second dose of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine.

Kassidi Kurill, 39, from Ogden, received her second dose of the vaccine on February 1. But by the evening info@guyanapostonline.com

of February 5, she was dead, according to 2News, which first reported her death.

The single mother had no known health problems or pre-existing conditions prior to her receiving the Covid-19 vaccine, according to the

publication. The family was now waiting on autopsy results to better determine the cause of her death.

“She was seemingly healthy as a horse,” Ms Kurill’s father, Alfred Hawley, told Fox News.

“She had no known underlying conditions.”

One day after receiving the Covid vaccine, Ms Kurill reportedly complained of drinking fluids but being unable to urinate. Symptoms also included a headache and nausea.

Her condition then improved the next day before she experienced increased heart palpitations on February 4, encouraging Mr Hawley to take his daughter to the hospital.

Symptoms escalated to Ms Kurill throwing up while at the hospital.

Doctors performed blood tests, which encouraged

them to put her on the liver transplant list.

“They were trying to get her to a point where she was stable enough for a liver transplant.

And they just could not get her stable,” Mr Hawley told Fox News.

“She got worse and worse throughout the day. And at nine o’clock, she passed.”

The Independent has contacted Moderna for a comment.

Side effects including flu-like symptoms are common for people who’ve received a Covid-19 vaccine. But severe effects, such as anaphylaxis, are extremely rare.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) has logged the vaccine doses administered from December 14,

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2020, to March 8, 2021.

Of the more than 92 million Covid-19 doses administered in the US, the agency has received 1,637 reports of death among people after they received a vaccine, which was about 0.0018 percent.

The agency stated on its website that “VAERS has not detected patterns in the cause of death that would indicate a safety problem with COVID-19 vaccines.”

Four of the deaths have occurred in Utah, according to 2News.

Health experts have cautioned that just because a person has died shortly after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine does not indicate the jab was the cause of their death.

While VAERS’ data confirm that 1,637 people have died after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine dose, the data does not state all

of these people died from the jab.

“CDC and [Food and Drug Administration] physicians review each case report of death as soon as notified and CDC requests medical records to further assess reports,” the CDC said.

“A review of available clinical information including death certificates, autopsy, and medical records revealed no evidence that vaccination contributed to patient deaths,” the agency added.

Mr Hawley described his daughter’s death as one in a million, but it hasn’t stopped him from receiving a Covid-19 vaccine himself and encouraging other people to do so.

“It appears she was the odd one out that had the terrible reaction,” he said, adding “the vaccine is going to help you.”

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Guyana PostFriday March 12, 2021

COVID-19 has helped the resilient but cursed the wider society

Adam’s Note Book The first COVID-19 case hit Guyana a year ago. It was an imported case with the woman coming from Queens, New York. Guyanese were not worried because there was talk about the heat killing the coronavirus.

Then the disease started to spread.

Relatives of the imported case became afflicted.

These then spread the disease to many with whom they came into contact. But even then there was no panic.

People fooled themselves into believing that in a short while the virus would disappear. That was wishful thinking.

When last the Ministry made the announcement about the fatalities, the number was 204. Most of the cases came from the most populous region— Region Four where the greatest number of cases was among men.

Sometimes people come to realize that even when something stares people in the face they choose to ignore it. In fact, some pretend that it does not exist.

And so it is with the COVID-19. The Ministry of Health released a number of measures to limit the

spread of the disease.

These included washing the hands, avoid rubbing the face, sanitizing as often as possible, and practice social distancing.

These are simple things for most.

Avoiding crowds is no problem for many so people scaled back on wedding receptions and funeral crowds. But there were those who believed themselves to be immune so they crowded the bars and restaurants.

Some hosted street parties and attracted crowds.

Others just sought out any entertainment they could get.

Nearly 9,000 people have been infected so far but most have recovered largely because the disease did not hurt them as it did those who have underlying conditions.

Hypertension, diabetes, and the like were considered underlying conditions.

It is heartening to see almost everyone on the streets of Georgetown wearing a mask. Shops make it mandatory that unless there is a mask the customer cannot enter; minibuses are supposed to enforce the mask rule but some, as can be

expected, take a chance.

Sometimes I see the police getting involved.

But there have been some useful things to come out of the pandemic.

Suddenly Zoom has become the primary means of communication. I remember when Skype was the way to go.

Now it is Zoom. Court hearings are conducted in this manner. It is called virtual hearing.

Prisoners go to court without leaving the prison compound and get sentenced once they are convicted. The lawyers do not have to be near them. His or her presence is also virtual.

People have attended court hearings from the confines of their homes or from their offices.

There have been attempts to conduct school using the virtual forum but this is Guyana. In the first instance, many children do not have computers. But they all have cell phones—at least the adolescents and the phones are not what some call the mango pelter.

However, there are not enough internet sites.

And no young person is keen to spend money on data for the phone to

use to attend classes in school.

The result is that for one year most children have had nothing to do with institutional learning. Even when there was a school there were those who only attended and learnt nothing. We would see them with brand-name shoes and clothing at the side of the road after school.

Today there are teenagers who do not know the alphabet. And that is only the tip of the iceberg. I expect to see more teenagers committing robberies on the streets. Their numbers have grown and they all want to flash a wad and to be drinking beers and Guinness. The money will come from innocent hard-working people.

And sadly, some of these people will die in the process because

the person with limited intelligence will not reason.

There were other bad things; small businesses collapsed; daycare centres closed their doors and generally, people in the lowest income brackets became the hardest hit, financially. The decision by the political directorate to terminate the services of some of the public servants has not helped the situation.

It is back to the days when people called on their resources to eke out a living. The enterprising brought their culinary skills and offered their products for sale. None of them can challenge KFC and Church’s and other fast food joints but they do earn enough to put food on the table.

Kitchen gardens are flourishing so COVID had pushed people to become resilient. Yet

Guyana would prefer life without COVID if only to see children grasping an education.

And as an aside, COVID testing is a money-making thing.

Initially, some testing sites charged $25,000.

If someone has to go overseas, that person at least 72 hours before departure must take the test and present the certificate at the airport.

Recently, I learnt that there is one hospital that is offering the test for $10,000. Whatever the case, that is still a lot of money. There is the contention that the government is testing for free but the stigma attached to COVID is keeping many people away from those sites.

I know for certain that I am not hearing people coughing as they used to in the good old days. Even sneezing has become a rarity. Life has really changed.

Ituni woman takes COVID-19 death toll to 206 A 39-year-old, Ituni Woman has been identified as Guyana latest COVID-19 Victim, taking the death toll to 206. The dead woman is Monique De Souza from Region Ten (Upper Demerara-Berbice).

According to the Ministry of Health, De Souza died at a local info@guyanapostonline.com

medical facility and would have tested positive for the virus.

The Ministry has expressed sincerest condolences to the family of the deceased and has maintained that they will provide all the necessary support during this difficult time to render any assistance to the victim’s

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Family.

The Health Ministry has also emphasised the need for people to take the necessary precaution on preventing the spread of the deadly virus.

As Guyana today acknowledges one year since it diagnosed its first case, 8928 positive cases have been recorded.