Guyana will not open borders to Guyanese stranded overseas

Guyana will not be re-opening airspace to allow in Guyanese who are stranded overseas, Prime Minister and Chairman of the National COVID-19 Task Force Moses Nagamootoo said Saturday afternoon.

He said that while authorities flexed a little and allowed some flights of Guyanese returning home, this is no longer being done.

Guyana’s first recorded confirmed case and death of COVID-19 was that of a Guyanese woman who travelled back home from the United States. Other members of her family tested positive and were put in quarantine.

“There is no vendetta,” Nagamootoo stated, but he said the authorities cannot monitor all the people who are coming into the country and trace those who they would come into contact with.

The News Room earlier reported that approximately 70 Guyanese have contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here requesting assistance in returning home as countries around the world battle the rapid spread of the Coronavirus 2019 Disease.

Requests were filed through Embassies, Missions and Consulates in New York, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Suriname and Trinidad among others.

Guyana initially closed its two international airports on March 19 to all incoming flights until April 2 but subsequently extended that closure to May 1.