107 new COVID-19 cases recorded in 6 regions

…68 from Region 7

A whopping 107 new COVID-19 cases were recorded locally on Friday – after 713 samples were sent for analysis. To date, there are 7887 confirmed cases in the country.
The statistics provided by the Health Ministry showed the new positives emerging from six administrative regions – of which there was a surge in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni).
Apart from the 180 deaths, there are five patients in the designated Intensive Care Unit with 56 persons in institutional isolation, 746 in home isolation and 13 in institutional quarantine.
From the 4101 males and 3786 females that contracted the virus, 6901 have completely recovered. Consequently, there are 807 active cases. Guyana has tested 51,990 people since the virus was detected here.
A breakdown showed that one new case was detected in Region One (Barima-Waini), two in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supernaam), six in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), 29 in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), 68 in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) and one in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni).
The figures in Regions Five (Mahaica-Berbice), Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) and 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) remain at 212; 439; 410 and 608 respectively.
For 2021, there has been a vast increase in the number of cases reported daily. As such, officials have been calling for Guyanese to observe the national protocols and curfew that are in place to keep themselves safe.

Vaccine rollout
Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony outlined during the coronavirus update that health authorities will be meticulous in the rollout of the vaccine administration programme, to which a committee has already been established to monitor the activities.
All of the vaccines require a double dosage, whereby persons will be given a date to return for the second.
“You get the first dose and then you get a date on your clinic card to tell you the next time you have to come back. Some of the vaccines that are currently in use, persons might have to come back after three weeks, in other cases, persons probably have to go back in about 28 days,” Minister Anthony said.
Medical workers have already been trained and 35 teams were prepared for the countrywide exercise. After a dose is administered, the person will be kept for observation for about half an hour to check for side effects. If such manifests, medications will be available. He has positioned that the possibility of developing a reaction is “extremely rare”.
“After someone receives the vaccine, the staff will keep that person at least for half an hour and observe to make sure that they don’t have any adverse reaction. If by chance they have an adverse reaction, medicine will be there to give them, and so they will be okay. We have prepared a system that when we start our vaccination programme we will be monitoring for adverse events,” the Minister assured.
Global vaccine mechanism, COVAX is planning to deliver some 104,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Guyana, which will materialise shortly. Presently, the said vaccine is before the World Health Organisation for emergency use listing. The Government of China has already pledged to donate 20,000 vaccines, manufactured by Sinopharm.
This week, Government said it would be purchasing an additional 149,000 doses from the African Union through efforts from the Caribbean Community to make vaccines available. (G12)