GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) — The Guyana-based Caribbean Community (Caricom) Secretariat says the 15-member regional integration grouping has managed the challenges posed by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic to great effect, ensuring that its cases have been kept low relative to larger and more affluent parts of the international community.
It said the member states have been ranked among the best in the world in their response to the pandemic in many global assessments. There has been no complacency as they maintain their science-based approach to containing this virus.
As at July 10, the figures show that Caricom member states and associate members with a combined population of about 19 million, had recorded just over 9,000 positive cases from which almost 5,000 had recovered, and there were only 220 deaths.
Active cases in 13 Caricom countries were in single figures, and in double figures for a further three, with only one member state above a thousand.
Caricom is attributing this success to the coordinated regional approach across the 20-member grouping, the swift and deliberate actions taken by its leadership, and the expert guidance and support from its specialised community institutions.
The Secretariat noted that regional governments began their engagement from January this year when regional interest in the disease first began to develop and continued to collaborate on best approaches to combat the spread, as the first cases reached the region in March.
