2 more COVID-19 deaths, 57 new cases recorded

Two more persons who tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) have died, according to the Ministry of Health on Thursday.
These latest fatalities are a 65-year-old male from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) and a 67-year-old female from Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne). They both died on Wednesday while receiving care at medical facilities.
With these, the total number of deaths from the pandemic in Guyana has gone up to 535. The death toll for the month of July is now at 56.
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry also reported on Thursday that 57 new COVID-19 infections were recorded over the last 24 hours from 1326 tests conducted.
The total number of confirmed cases in Guyana is now 22,373, but only 863 of these are currently active cases. These include 15 patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit and the other 848 persons in isolation, that is, 62 of them in institutional isolation and the remaining 786 persons in home isolation.
There are also four additional persons in institutional quarantine, according to the Ministry’s updated COVID-19 Dashboard on Thursday.
On the other hand, some 20,974 persons have recovered from the life-threatening disease – 124 more recoveries than the figure reported the day before.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic in Guyana last year, 223,187 persons have been tested so far for the novel coronavirus of which 11,456 females and 10,916 males were positive cases.
A breakdown of the 57 new COVID-19 cases detected shows that Region Four continues to account for the highest number of confirmed cases and has now surpassed the 10,000 mark.
Of Thursday’s new cases, one was from Region One (Barima-Waini), three cases from Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), 10 from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), a whopping 27 cases from the Demerara-Mahaica region, eight from Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), two more cases from the East Berbice-Corentyne region, one each from Regions Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) and Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo), and the remaining four cases from Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) recorded no COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, according to Thursday’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 order to achieve herd immunity.
So far, over 50 per cent of the adult population has been received their first dose of the vaccine and recent data puts this figure at some 249,908 persons. Meanwhile, fully immunised persons in the country stand at approximately 136,919 of the population who are 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.
Nevertheless, as more people continue to get vaccinated, authorities are urging the public to continue observing all COVID-19 preventative measures, particularly masking in public, 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 Thursday, some 195,885,929 confirmed cases were reported globally along with 4,189,148 deaths.
WHO also reported on Thursday that in the Region of the Americas, that is, Latin America and the Caribbean, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased to 76,584,467 while the death toll in the Region has gone up to 1,999,953. (G8)