PNCR’s Mervyn Williams in COVID-ICU

Last Updated on Friday, 27 August 2021, 10:33 by Denis Chabrol

Former People’s National Congress Reform parliamentarian, Mervyn Williams was Friday still in the Intensive Care Unit of the COVID-19 hospital, well-placed sources said.

The sources said Mr. Williams was not vaccinated against the virus that has so far claimed the lives of more than 600 persons in Guyana.

“He is having a hard time,” the source said.

A former ministerial aide to then Indigenous Affairs Minister Sidney Allicock, Mr. Williams had been in the ICU since early this week.

As of Thursday, there were 22 persons receiving intensive care.

He is the second well-known  PNCR supporter to have fallen seriously ill from COVID-19 virus since a vaccine became available in Guyana. The first was Region 10 Vice Chairman Douglas Gittens who succumbed in June.

Former PNCR Leader Robert Corbin had also been hospitalised in the COVID-ICU when there had been no vaccine available locally. He subsequently recovered.

Several PNCR elected leaders and other supporters have been holding weekly protests at the Square of the Revolution and in Linden in solidarity with government workers, members of the public and transportation providers who are required to be vaccinated before they can work or enter government premises.

While government has maintained that vaccination is not mandatory, detractors and those who prefer not to be vaccinated have contended that the alternative of producing weekly COVID-19 PCR tests at their own expense amount to “coercion.”

Health Minister Dr. Frank Anthony on Thursday told reporters that unvaccinated persons are more likely to be hospitalised and even fall very sick and die.

Dr. Anthony said so far there is no evidence in Guyana that vaccinated persons have died from any of the jabs, but all of those who have passed away had not been vaccinated or fully vaccinated.

A well-known People’s Progressive Party (PPP) activist, Majeed Hussein, had also succumbed to the viral disease.