Pstand at 498 as 21 new cases

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2021 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM Guyana’s active COVID-19 cases stand at 498

– as 21 new cases recorded in last 24 hours

The Ministry of Health has reported that another 21 new novel coronavirus cases were detected in the last 24 hours from some 1294 tests conducted in Guyana.

According to new statistics released by the Ministry on Sunday, the total number of confirmed cases in Guyana is now 8420 – 4358 males and 4061 females.

However, the country’s active cases continue to increase with the figure now at 498 – 17 more than what was reported on Saturday.

Of the current active cases, 10 persons remain in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the other 488 persons are in isolation, that is, 38 in institutional quarantine and the remaining 450 in home isolation.

There are also 11 persons in institutional quarantine.

Meanwhile, the COVID-19 death toll remains at 189, with the latest fatality recorded on Tuesday last when a 69-year-old female from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) died while receiving care at a medical facility.

Additionally, the number of persons who have recovered from the life-threatening virus has also gone up to 7733, that is, four more recoveries when compared to the previous day.

To date, some 60,094 persons have been tested for the novel coronavirus in Guyana.

Of the 21 new cases recorded on Sunday, one was detected in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara); 16 cases in the Demerara-Mahaica region, and the other four cases in Region Seven (CuyuniMazaruni).

The figures in the other seven regions – Region One (Barima-Waini); Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam); Region Five (MahaicaBerbice); Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne); Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni); Region Nine (Upper TakutuUpper Essequibo) and Region 10 (Upper DemeraraBerbice) – remained the same.

Since taking office, the PPP/C Government has embarked on a massive testing drive to ensure that all positive cases, especially asymptomatic cases, are detected.

As the number of cases continues to increase in the country, Government

1 dead, 1 critical after Linden Highway smash-up

A60-year-old man is now dead, while another is seriously injured, following an accident on Dora Public Road, Soesdyke-Linden Highway, on Saturday evening.

The dead man has been identified as Murvey Andrew Madhoo of Independence Boulevard La Penitence, Georgetown. The injured person, Sherwin Rhodius, is said to be hospitalised in a critical condition.

According to the Police report, at about 20:00h on the day in question, a motor pick-up was stationary on the western side of the Dora Public Road while transferring goods to another vehicle when the driver

Dead: Murvey Andrew Madhoo

of a speeding motor lorry allegedly lost control and collided with one of the pickups.

It was reported that the right-side front of the lorry collided with the right-side front of the pick-up which then collided with Madhoo and Sherwin Rhodius, both of whom were standing between the two vehicles.

As a result of the collision, the two men sustained severe injuries. Madhoo was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival while Rhodius was rushed to Linden Public Hospital Complex where he was admitted as a patient. His condition is regarded as critical.

Following the accident, a breathalyser test was conducted on the driver of the truck and he was found to be below the legal limit of alcohol. He was nevertheless taken into Police custody.

The body of the dead man is at the Georgetown Public Hospital mortuary awaiting a post-mortem. An investigation has been launched into the accident. two weeks ago rolled out the administration of the COVID-19 vaccines to frontline workers and persons with comorbidities to protect against the deadly virus. This batch of AstraZeneca vaccines was donated by the Government of Barbados and Guyana is awaiting the arrival of the jabs from the COVAX facility.

Nevertheless, health authorities are reminding all Guyanese to observe the protocols of the COVID-19 Emergency Measures (No 14), which are in effect until February 28, 2021.

This order emphasises, among other things, the need for correct and consistent use of a face mask when leaving home; the importance of maintaining the six feet physical distance from others, and the need for good hand hygiene to help reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Meanwhile, the measures also stipulate a curfew from 22:30h (10:30 pm) to 04:00h (04:00 am).

Restaurants and places of worship continue to operate at 40 per cent capacity.

Gyms are to operate at 50 per cent capacity while sporting events are only permitted with approval from the Health Minister.

If anyone is displaying any of the symptoms associated with COVID-19, or need any additional information, kindly contact the COVID-19 Hotline on 231-1166, 2267480 or 624-6674 immediately or visit www.health.gov. gy.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), as of Sunday, some 110,749,023 confirmed cases were reported globally along with 2,455,131 deaths.

WHO also reported on Sunday that in the Region of the Americas, that is, Latin America and the Caribbean, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased to 49,296,115 while the death toll in the region has gone up to 1,171,294.

Mahaicony farmer crushed to death by water pump

Afarmer was on Sunday crushed to death by a water pump he was operating at his backdam located at Esau and Jacob Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara (ECD).

The dead man has been identified as 51-year-old Seegobin Persaud, a rice farmer of Mortis Mahaicony, ECD, Region Five (MahaicaBerbice).

Based on reports received, Persaud would normally pump water into his farmland with a water pump attached to a tractor.

He was seen going into his rice field on Sunday. However, at about 15:00h, his son went to check on his father but instead found his dismembered body. The young man raised an alarm and the Police were contacted.

The severely injured man was taken to the Mahaicony Cottage Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. An investigation has been launched into the gruesome incident.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2021| GUYANATIMESGY.COM Investor to set up US$2M concrete plant in Linden

– after Govt outlines development agenda for Reg 10

By Jarryl Bryan

Budgets are not just about fiscal plans and economic growth figures. They also contain a road map of the Government’s developmental vision, and one investor paying keen attention to

the current Government’s agenda has taken the bold step to make a huge investment in the mining town of Linden.

Thirty-eight-year-old Amar Chetram, who is in the process of establishing a US$2 million concrete production facility in Amelia’s Ward Industrial site, Linden, spoke of how he was inspired by the Government’s developmental agenda for Region 10 and the expected demand for concrete produced right in Linden.

“Basically, what happened is after the President (Dr Irfaan Ali) came to Linden and announced the thousand house project, we realised that Linden does not have the kind of facility in terms of concrete, ready mix and so on. Basically,

what everyone does is they use the old-fashioned way of spade, ransom, the most equipment they would use in terms of getting readymix.”

“For them to get ready mix in Linden they have to use the people in Georgetown or East Bank, which is very costly for them. By the time the truck drive and reach to Linden, the concrete already gets hard. So, they couldn’t get quality concrete to build infrastructure in Linden,” Chetram explained.

Chetram, whose company is Caribbean Concrete Guyana Limited, already has a sawmill and zinc factory and so has a foothold in the construction sector. He noted that with the expected demand the construction of the thousand homes proj-

ect and other projects like the Linden to Lethem road will create, investing in the facility made business sense.

“They will need concrete for the shoulders and all these things. So, we looked into those markets, if the Government decides to use concrete and do concrete shoulders. And then we realised they’ve been doing a lot of concrete drains and culverts. That made us actually invest into the project.”

The businessman described the plant as a stateof-the-art one, capable of producing up to 1000 cubic yards of cement per day. Chetram explained that the project is likely to employ around 50 persons, although this could increase depending on the demand for concrete.

According to Chetram, who only last week inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Guyana Office for Investment (GO-Invest) Chief Executive Officer Dr Peter Ramsaroop, they expect the project to become operational within two months.

“We currently have around 20 (workers) on-site working now, getting the office buildings and other things done. We have normal clerical persons. And these are persons from Linden. We’re looking to hire persons from the community, unless we can’t get people from the community, then we have to source them from outside the community,” he said.

“We have the plant and everything on-site now. We have equipment coming in. We were waiting to sign the MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with GOInvest to get our concessions and so on, so we are in preparation to ship. We would have already bought a lot of the equipment and stuff already. Now that we signed last week, we will start shipping out.”

The long-awaited Linden to Lethem road, funding for which was put on pause by the British Government owing to the political upheaval in Guyana, is likely to see work beginning sometime this year.

The Linden to Lethem road, a key link between Guyana and Brazil with the potential to boost trade, is at present little more than an unsurfaced trail that deteriorates in rainfall. As such, the United Kingdom Caribbean Infrastructure Partnership Fund (UKCIF) programme, administered through the CDB, will be providing funding for the first phase of the road from Linden to Mabura Hill, as well as a crossing at Kurupukari.

During a stakeholder consultation with members of Cabinet at Watooka Complex in the mining town last month, President Ali, who was accompanied by a number of Government Ministers and State agency representatives, had announced plans for the construction of 1000 houses in Linden.

The President, in his address, told residents that Government is working along with the Private Sector and the financial institutions to soon make the 1000 homes project a reality. In response to the issues of squatting and inaccessibility of land, which were outlined as issues plaguing the community by Regional Chairman Deron Adams, the President assured that Government would place focus on the housing sector, to meet the needs of the people.

The concrete plant at Amelia’s Ward Industrial site Investor Amar Chetram