Paris (AFP)

LFI MEP Younous Omarjee asked Prime Minister Edouard Philippe to ask for "help" from the European Union to cope with the worsening coronavirus epidemic in Guyana in a letter he sent him. addressed Wednesday.

"In my capacity as chairman of the Committee on Regional Development in the European Parliament, I would like to recommend that you kindly request the assistance and assistance of the European Union, which has a mechanism to contribute to the responses to the situation which concerns us in Guyana ", writes Mr. Omarjee, in this letter of which AFP had a copy.

According to him, "the current health situation requires the State to do everything in its power and deploy it to prevent the catastrophe from getting worse, and to save as many lives as possible".

"It is clear that the means deployed so far by the State in Guyana are very largely insufficient, in number of hospital and intensive care beds, in artificial respirators, in nursing and non-nursing hospital staff, insufficient throughout the chain of relief from screening to care, "he said.

The deputy recalls that "the European medical corps (RescUE) was created to compensate for the significant lack of qualified medical teams during health crises. It was mobilized in particular during the Ebola crisis" (in Africa). "It will be useful in Guyana," he adds.

Mr. Omarjee also requests the activation "without delay" of the "Union civil protection mechanism for Guyana", the mobilization of the "emergency response coordination center and any other device able to help".

Tuesday, Overseas Minister Annick Girardin had said, during questions to the government in the Assembly, that Guyana needed a reinforcement of "300 caregivers" to cope with the accelerating epidemic of coronavirus, and had launched a new appeal for national solidarity.

According to the minister, the peak is expected for mid-July, late July. Guyana passed the 4,000 case mark (4,004) on Tuesday, of which 1,508 were cured.

© 2020 AFP