Guyana has recorded one new coronavirus (COVID-19) case, bringing the total known number of persons infected by the virus to 184. This was made known by the Public Health Ministry, in its daily update on Sunday.
According to the update, there are now a total of 2108 persons who were tested for COVID-19 and 1924 negative results. 60 persons were tested in the last 24 hours, from which one positive case was diagnosed. Between Friday and Saturday, there had not been any new tests. 
The number of deaths (12), number of persons in institutional isolation (69) and the number of persons in institutional quarantine (24) remain unchanged. There was also one recovery in the 24-hour period, bringing the total number of recovered cases to 103.
Last week, there were a total of 24 new cases and a further breakdown shows that 11 teachers from the Santa Rosa Primary School, Moruca sub-district, Region One (Barima-Waini), are now infected with the coronavirus. All positive cases were placed in institutional isolation and the remaining 26 teachers from the school were asked to self-quarantine.
The Ministry would have announced on Friday that a decision was taken to reverse the lifting of the non-curfew measures in Regions Five (Demerara-Mahaica) and Eight (Potaro-Siparuni). This means the 6 pm to 6 am curfew measures will remain in all administrative regions until directed otherwise.
These were the only two coronavirus-free regions in the country, but given the surge in cases, officials opted to reinforce the measures. Chief Medical Officer, Dr Shamdeo Persaud would have also reminded that in Guyana, the male population is most affected by the disease, along with Regions One (Barima-Waini), Four (Demerara-Mahaica) and Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni).
In their analysis, the mining community is now one of the “most vulnerable groups” for the spread of the disease.
“I wish to remind you that we are at a much higher risk because COVID-19 is rampant in our bordering countries and we have not seen a reduction but a constant increase in the number of positive cases. Residents in Region Seven, I wish to make a special appeal to you as the situation in your community is of grave concern to the Ministry,” he highlighted.
He had said the Cuyuni-Mazaruni Region, notably Aranka, has the second-highest number of confirmed cases. The mining activities, the continuous movement of people and services in and out of the area also make it extremely likely for the disease to spread.
Globally, the total number of cases is 8,525,042 with 456,973 deaths. In the region of the Americas, there are 4,163,813 confirmed cases with 215,903 deaths.
