2 pregnant women hospitalised with COVID-19

…4 new cases recorded

Two pregnant women are among the active coronavirus cases being monitored by the Health Ministry, and they have both been hospitalised. This was announced by Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony on Friday.
Dr Anthony has added that, throughout the country, 31 active cases are under surveillance. “We have two pregnant women in the hospital with COVID,” he said during the COVID-19 update.
In Guyana, approximately 14,000 pregnancies are reported yearly. It has been reported that most pregnant women are at risk of contracting COVID-19, but immunisation would reduce their chances of either contracting the novel coronavirus disease or of having to be hospitalized therewith, or of even dying therefrom.
If a pregnant woman is vaccinated, some antibodies would be passed on to her foetus, thereby transferring to that foetus some protection against the virus.
Since the Pfizer vaccines are available for women in this bracket, the Ministry had started a campaign to get more such persons vaccinated.
Even though most countries in the region recommend that pregnant women be vaccinated against the COVID-19 disease, their uptake has still been very low. A lack of access to timely care and disruptions to prenatal services are to be blamed for an increase in maternal mortality in the Americas during the pandemic, with one in three pregnant women being unable to access timely critical care, according to Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Director Dr Carissa F Etienne earlier this year.
The PAHO Director had also called for greater emphasis to be placed on programmes that address women of ethnic minorities, such as Afro-descendants, Indigenous women, and migrants who “are often at greater risk due to the overlap of gender and social factors.

Statistics
In the updated dashboard on Friday, four new positives were reported. This adds to a total of 71,465 confirmed cases, of which 32,758 are males and 38,707 are females.

In the past weeks, there has been a significant reduction in coronavirus cases reported daily, with no fatalities being reported. There are no patients in the intensive care unit of the hospital, but two persons are in institutional isolation there, 29 are in home isolation, and two are in institutional quarantine.
To date, deaths remain at 1,281, some 70,153 persons have recovered completely, while 703,375 tests have been processed.
Globally, 627 million confirmed cases have been reported worldwide, with 6.5 million deaths. On the other hand, 179 million cases have surfaced in the Americas, and deaths have surpassed 2.8 million.
If anyone is displaying any of the symptoms associated with COVID-19, or need any additional information in regard to this disease, they are asked to contact the COVID-19 Hotline numbers: 231-1166, 226-7480, or 624-6674 immediately; or visit www.health.gov.gy. (G12)