2 more COVID-19 deaths, 222 new cases recorded

…cinemas get permission to sell snacks, only vaccinated persons can access gyms

Two more persons who tested positive for the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) have died, according to the Health Ministry on Wednesday.
These latest fatalities are a 70-year-old female from Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice) and a 95-year-old male from Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne). According to the Ministry, they both died on Tuesday while receiving care at medical facilities.
With these fatalities, the total number of deaths in Guyana from the pandemic has gone up to 624. Consequently, the death toll for the month of August is now 78, with a whopping 9 nine fatalities reported on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, a whopping 222 new COVID-19 cases were detected in the last 24 hours from 2,998 tests conducted. This took the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 25,770.
The Ministry’s updated COVID-19 Dashboard on Wednesday showed that 34 patients are in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU), while 1,916 persons are in isolation; that is, 107 in institutional isolation and the remaining 1,809 in home isolation.
This takes the current active cases in Guyana to 1,950. Additionally, there are seven other persons in institutional quarantine.
So far, some 23,196 persons have recovered from the life-threatening disease – 178 more recoveries have been recorded in the last 24 hours.
Meanwhile, a total of 269,961 persons have been tested for the novel coronavirus since the outbreak of the pandemic here last year. Of this number, 12,451 males and 13,319 females were found to be positive.
Of the 222 new COVID cases recorded on Wednesday, one was recorded in Region One (Barima-Waini), 10 were recorded in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), 33 in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), a whopping 131 in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), nine in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), three in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), 20 in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), two in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) and 13 in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
There was no new case recorded in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) in the last 24 hours.
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 order to achieve heard immunity.
According to recent figures, some 61.5 per cent of the adult population has received their first dose of the vaccine, which is over 315,279 persons.
Meanwhile, fully immunised persons in the country are in excess of 163,806, representing approximately 31.7 per cent of the population who are 18 years and older.

Children vaccination
In regard to children, over 3400 have received their first jab. However, Government last week rolled out vaccination for children between the ages of 12 and 17 ahead of the reopening of schools next month. This was after Guyana received 146,250 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, which the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved for adolescents.
Since last Thursday, over 3,400 children in Guyana have been immused to date. Government has said over 4,000 students have been granted consent to get vaccinated against the deadly virus.
Persons are encouraged to get immunized, 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 has been hospitalised or died from the virus.
Nevertheless, as more people continue to get vaccinated, authorities are urging the public to continue observing all COVID-19 preventative measures, which include masking in public, social distancing, and frequent hand washing and sanitising. The measures also include vaccination requirements to access certain social locations, such as restaurants and cinemas, as well as some Government services.
However, in the updated gazetted COVID-19 Emergency Measures for the month of September, Government has removed the restriction on the sale of food and drinks at cinemas.
In last month’s measures, cinemas were granted approval to reopen, but were only allowed to operate at 40 per cent capacity, and were not allowed to have food concession stands.
Now, in addition to being allowed to sell food, cinemas can operate at 60 per cent capacity.
The requirement for persons attending the cinemas to show proof of vaccination remains in place. Children, or those under the age of 18, will not be required to show a vaccination card. The new measures also state that patrons and staff are required to wear their face masks.
Moreover, the gazetted measures stipulate that only vaccinated persons are allowed access to gyms – including workers and members.
Meanwhile, the national COVID-19 curfew of 22:30hrs to 04:00hrs remains in effect.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as at Wednesday, some 217,558,771 confirmed cases were reported globally, along with 4,517,240 deaths.
WHO also reported on Wednesday that in the Region of the Americas, that is, Latin America and the Caribbean, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased to 83,970,406 while the death toll in the region has gone up to 2,103,348. (G8)