Covid-19: Guyana subjected to a new curfew, but carnival maintained Saturday

Most of the population must again comply with this measure from Friday night to deal with a reset of contamination, while vaccination stagnates at less than 40%.

Le Monde with AFP

The curfew is back in Guyana to try to brake the propagation of COVID-19. At the exit of a ministerial crisis, the prefect Thierry Queffelec decided on Thursday 6 January that the inhabitants of the six main cities of the territory – de Cayenne in Kourou, passing by Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni – had to Submit, from Friday, January 7, to a daily curfew from 8:30 pm to 5 hours.

Restaurants, sports halls and cinemas, however, benefit from exemptions until 10:30 pm. Gatherings on public roads are also limited to ten people in these cities, which gather 76% of the population.

But this decision does not prevent the carnival, a true institution in Guyana, to start Saturday, with the traditional arrival of King Vaval, the king of the carnival. The prefect assured that the festivities, the most important of which are in Cayenne, Kourou and Saint-Laurent, would not be canceled, as in 2021. The entry into the dancing will nevertheless be subjected to the health care. Street parades are also maintained, but carnival groups must comply with strict protocols.

White Plan Hospitals

The Guyana was totally released from the previous curfew on November 29, 2021. The incidence rate culminates today at 1,429 cases per 100,000 population and the rate of positivity flirts with 42%. Vaccination, it, stagnates less than 40%.
In late December 2021, Mr. Quaffelec urgently requested the government to extend the state of health emergency, which was to be completed on 31 December in the department. On Wednesday, the government had acceded to its request by urgently granting this elongation of the state of emergency, which now runs until the end of March.

Hospitals also passed white plan, following a decision, Thursday, the Guiana Regional Health Agency, facing the increase in hospitalizations.

/Media reports.