In light of stricter measures to combat the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, President Irfaan Ali moments ago said that the responsibility of defending the nation’s health falls on the government and that he is committed to ensuring that all Guyanese are protected.
The President made the statement in his address to the nation on the first anniversary of his government taking office.
President Ali told the nation that the government would rather have an open economy which would translate into more revenues and development but that the threat of COVID-19 is real.
“It will be good for government revenues. It will be good for businesses but [profit would come at a loss of many more lives and the health of the nation. Our hospitals will not be able to cope nor will we be able to bury the dead if the coronavirus were allowed to infect the unvaccinated and spread throughout the country. We are in a war with an unseen enemy and we have no idea when and where that enemy will turn up with lethal force,” the President explained.
He noted that it is the very reason that government spent and continues to spend large sums of money to acquire vaccines for every citizen. The also stressed the need for every citizen to be inoculated against the deadly virus.
As part of the newly released COVID-19 measures for the month of August, the National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF) announced a slew of newer measures. Those measures stipulate that all providers of public transportation should be vaccinated, and members of the public who wish to visit a ministry or a government agency for a service will have to be vaccinated for COVID-19 or if they are not vaccinated they will have to make an appointment.
“Because vaccines inoculate everyone against this dreaded deadly virus, all of us should be troubled by those who refuse to be vaccinated. The unvaccinated are now as deadly as the virus itself for they are not only susceptible to infection, they will carry it…the government has a responsibility to defend the health of all,” President Ali told the nation.
