President vex with reckless behaviour of those flouting COVID-19 guidelines

President Irfaan Ali is calling out persons for their “reckless” behaviour which he says continues to put others at risk as the country grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic.

A visibly upset President Ali during a sideline interview with the press on Monday was responding to questions about whether his government would support stricter penalties as it implements the public health measures.

The President was particularly upset about the videos shared on social media that involve the National COVID-19 Task Force using the buses belonging to the Guyana Defence Force and abuse meted out to the soldiers who are involved in ensuring persons are removed from parties and other events.

“I see responsible people sharing this (video), on social media as if this is some big joke, the reckless behaviour in that bus, and people who I hold with great levels of responsibility and high levels of education, sharing it as if it is a joke, what they were behaving with in that bus is reckless”

The Head of State commended the Task Force for enforcing the current measures, “You would have seen that we have stepped up tremendously, the Task Force has been doing more patrols, they are more aggressive, the only other thing now is to have the courts play a role in sentencing people but we have really stepped up.”

He maintained that persons have to be more responsible, “Guyanese have to understand that this is not a joke, this is their lives they are playing with,” President Ali said.

“You can’t put your lives in the hands of the task force, you have to have value for your life and if you don’t understand that your life has a value then at least understand that your actions will impact other persons’ lives and appreciate the value that other persons place on their lives.”

President Ali walked out of a cricket match held at the Everest Sports Ground just a few weeks ago as he called out the organisers for not enforcing the measures which includes mandatory wearing of masks and social distancing.

Guyana has recorded some 257 COVID-19 related deaths between March 2020.