…17 in ICU
Two more persons have succumbed to COVID-19, moving the country’s death toll to 298.
The latest fatalities are two females: a 71-year-old from Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and a 73-year-old from Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice). They both died while receiving care at a medical facility on Friday. This means April ended with an alarming 65 deaths.
On Thursday, a 57-year-old female from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) died while receiving care. On Wednesday, two females: a 63-year-old and a 59-year-old from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) also succumbed.
Guyana’s active coronavirus cases have moved up to 1807 after 121 new positives were detected within one day. On Saturday’s dashboard, the overall confirmed cases rose to 13,404 – a breakdown of 6736 males and 6668 females.
Some 17 patients are seeking treatment in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), while 89 are in institutional isolation, 1701 in home isolation and 10 in institutional quarantine. The country has recorded 11,299 recoveries while 123,880 were tested.
Of the new positives, three were from Region One (Barima-Waini), three from Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), 18 from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara),74 in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), two in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), six in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), eight in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), two in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) and five in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) did not report an increase, as cases remained at 256.
For the new month of May, the Health Ministry informed that the gazetted COVID-19 Emergency Measures (No 17) state that the curfew remains from 22:30h to 04:00h. Only essential services are authorised to operate on a 24-hour basis. Other services are expected to close operations by 21:30h. Casinos were also given the green light to operate.
No one is permitted to host or attend a cinema except for drive-in movies; private party, banquet hall, bar, public swimming pool or water park, wake or vigil, club, meeting fraternity or any other social activity.
In order for Government to consider removing some of the COVID-19 measures currently enforced, a significant percentage of the adult population would have to be vaccinated.
During the latest coronavirus update, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony said many countries have removed certain measures because they were close to herd immunity. For Guyana to consider such a move, the population needs to get vaccinated. As of Thursday, over 136,000 persons received their first dose of the vaccine. The adult population is estimated to be around 500,000.
“If we work hard enough and people take the vaccine, we would get to a point where we can remove those measures. But as of now, we have to maintain them and continue using them. Israel, for example, is one of the first countries that would have gotten close to herd immunity and they have removed masking because most of their population would have already gotten the vaccine. They’re showing what is possible and if we work hard enough and make sure that every adult here receives their vaccine, then some of the measures we can remove,” Dr Anthony shared.
In light of the scarcity of vaccines, the World Health Organisation had asked for infected persons to wait for three months before getting inoculated because they would have already gained some antibodies. Guyana did not impose that restriction due to the availability of shots and as a result, persons can get a vaccine immediately after their recovery.
“If someone is symptomatic, then by using the questionnaire that we have, we’ll be able to find that out and we’ll advise them accordingly. If you’re mildly symptomatic, then we would be able to use that questionnaire and ask you to wait until you recover. Generally, that would take 10 days. Having completed your recovery period, then you can come and get the vaccine…In terms of asymptomatic cases, most of those asymptomatic persons would not know themselves that they have COVID…In such circumstances, we’ll give the vaccine,” he was quoted as saying. (G12)
