1 death, 65 new COVID-19 cases recorded

Another person who tested positive for the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) has died, according to the Health Ministry.
The latest fatality is an 88-year-old male from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), who died while receiving care at a medical facility.
With this, the total number of deaths from the virus in Guyana has gone up to 515. Since the beginning of July, 45 persons have succumbed to the life-threatening disease. The total number of deaths from the COVID-19 virus in the month of June was 78. May is the deadliest month with 99 COVID-19 fatalities after surpassing April’s 66 death toll.
Meanwhile, 65 persons have tested positive for COVID-19 over the previous 24 hours.
The total number of confirmed cases in Guyana is now 21,733, according to the Ministry’s updated COVID-19 dashboard.
However, only 1209 of these cases are currently active. These comprise 15 patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and 1194 persons in isolation, that is, 101 in institutional isolation and 1093 in home isolation.
There are currently three persons in institutional quarantine.
Some 20,009 persons have recovered from the life-threatening disease, with 16 recoveries recorded on Wednesday.
Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Guyana last year, 213,349 persons have been tested, with 11,125 females and 10, 608 males returning positive results.
Of the 65 new cases reported on Wednesday, one was from Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), 10 from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), 33 from Demerara-Mahaica, five from Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), two from Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), two more from Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) and the remaining 12 cases from Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
Regions One (Barima-Waini), Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) recorded no COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, according to Wednesday’s COVID-19 dashboard.
In order to curb the rising number of cases in the country, the Guyana Government launched its COVID-19 vaccination exercise back in February and is aggressively rolling it out in the various regions in its efforts to achieve herd immunity.
Recent figures show that more than 243,000 persons have received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, representing some 50 per cent of the adult population. Meanwhile, the number of fully-immunised persons in the country stand at more than 126,000, that is, approximately 26 per cent of persons 18 years and older.
Persons are encouraged to get immunised since the COVID-19 vaccine gives full protection against death. In fact, health authorities have disclosed that no one who is fully vaccinated with both doses of the COVID-19 vaccines have been hospitalised or died from the virus.
As more people continue to get vaccinated, authorities are urging the public to continue observing all COVID-19 preventative measures, particularly wearing a mask in public, practising social distancing and frequent hand washing and sanitising. The measures also include a 22:30h (10:30 pm) to 04:00h (4 am) national curfew that is in effect until July 31, 2021.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), as of Wednesday, some 191,148,056 confirmed cases were reported globally along with 4,109,303 deaths.
WHO also reported that in the Region of the Americas, that is, Latin America and the Caribbean, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased to 75,085,849 while the death toll has gone up to 1,967,351. (G8)