The Week-in-Review - March 21 to March 27

COVID vaccines for over-40s from this week:

President Irfaan Ali has announced that the COVID-19 vaccination campaign will be expanded from Wednesday this week to include persons over 40 and more shots are being procured for this. He said that once the heightened vaccination campaign gets rolling, the government hopes to inoculate as many as 10,000 persons per day. At the moment around 2,000 persons per day are being vaccinated, which means that a major effort will be needed to accomplish 10,000 per day. Furthermore, large vaccine shipments will be needed. Just over 25,000 persons had received their first vaccination up to last Wednesday. While government launched its vaccine campaign with vaccines for 51,500 persons, it has since purchased 200,000 does of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine – enough for 100,000 persons – from the United Arab Emirates. The first tranche is expected this week would be necessary to fulfil the expanded vaccination campaign. Since January, the government has approached several other governments, agencies, and manufacturers, in a bid to procure vaccines for the country. “We have so far approached the governments of India, China, Russia, the UAE, OIC, COVAX, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, [and] Moderna. Other than the donations made by India and China, Guyana is now procuring vaccines from various sources,” President Ali informed. Meanwhile, Guyana is set to receive 24,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from the COVAX facility on Monday, boosting the government’s plans to begin vaccinating persons over 40 from Wednesday. Last week, the PAHO/WHO website stated that 33,600 doses of the AstraZeneca jab are in transit to Guyana and the shipment is expected on Monday. That figure has since been revised. Guyana was originally expecting an initial total of over 100,000 does but COVAX has experienced severe supply problems and has had to reduce allocations until the supply chain is less encumbered. The situation has been compounded by India’s recent decision to halt large exports from its Serum Institute because of rising domestic needs.

Crime

Gold dealer gunned down at Main and Middle Sts: Gold dealer and Kitty resident Ricardo Fagundes, also known as `Paper Shorts’, was last Sunday night gunned down on Main and Middle streets. Sources told Stabroek News that sometime after 9 pm the man, who had been a patron at Palm Court on Main Street, exited the business and was making his way to a vehicle parked some distance away when shots rang out. There are reports that he was called out of the establishment. Palm Court was closed at around 9.25pm, according to sources. His body fell on the pedestrian crossing on Main and Middle streets and was there until after 11pm when the Lyken Funeral Home undertakers came to take it away. When this newspaper visited the scene, some of the Sandy Babb Street, Kitty resident’s family members had begun arriving and screams of anguish rang out. Some of the women had to be consoled and were too distraught to speak with the media. Around 20 policemen in uniform were on the scene at various locations. A forensic team and camera crew processed the area and the cordon was extended as more persons gathered around the scene’s perimeter. Fagundes is also said to be a friend of convicted drug trafficker Roger Khan. The gunning down of Fagundes is the type of killing that the police have had great difficulty in solving.

Two escapees, woman killed by police at Better Hope:

A search is underway for a man who shot at police and then fled, triggering the fatal shooting of two prison escapees and a woman on Monday night in the Better Hope South backlands. Mazaruni Prison escapees Imran Ramsaywack and Ryan Jones, and Savita Rajkumar, also known as ‘Debbie,’ were shot dead in a shack in the backlands, where police had gone based on a tip-off that the escapees were hiding in the area. The Guyana Police Force stated that Rajkumar, 49, of Better Hope (South) Squatting area, East Coast Demerara, was said to be a close acquaintance of one of the dead prisoners. Giving its account of the events that led to the shooting, the police said ranks, acting on information received, went to the area after receiving intelligence that the prison escapees were hiding out there. They observed three wooden shacks in an abandoned field in a bushy and swampy area. The statement said after clearing the first shack, ranks were approaching the second one when a voice was heard in the third shack. According to the report, police immediately identified themselves after which a man emerged and discharged a round in their direction before escaping. Police subsequently returned fire, killing the three persons in the shack in the process. A sawn-off double barrel shotgun was found at the scene.