2 Region 4 pensioners die from COVID-19

…43 new cases recorded

The Health Ministry on Wednesday reported that two more persons who tested positive for the novel coronavirus died on Tuesday.

This now takes the total number of COVID-19 deaths locally to 158.
The latest fatalities are a 93-year-old man and a 71-year-old woman, both from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica). They died while receiving care at a medical facility.
Guyana has recorded three COVID-19 deaths thus far this week. The week began on Sunday with the death toll at 155. The first fatality for the week was a 72-year-old male from Region 10 (Upper Demerara- Berbice).
The Ministry also reported on Wednesday that 43 new COVID-19 cases were recorded.
This now takes the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 6016. However, only 673 of these cases are currently active, with seven patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the remaining 666 in isolation – 36 in institutional isolation and the other 630 persons in home isolation.
Additionally, there are now 16 persons in institutional quarantine.
Further, some 5185 persons have recovered from the coronavirus thus far in Guyana.
Of the 43 new cases detected on Wednesday, two are from Region One (Barima-Waini); four from Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), eight from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara); seven cases from Demerara-Mahaica; 16 from Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice); two from Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) and four cases from Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
The figures remained the same for Regions Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) and Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) with 297, 524, and 183 cases respectively.
Since taking office, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government has embarked on a massive testing drive to ensure that all positive cases, especially asymptomatic cases, are detected. This has resulted in a high number of cases being detected.
In fact, during his daily COVID-19 update on Wednesday, Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony gave an overview of the coronavirus situation in some of the regions that have seen a spike in cases recently.
One such region is Barima-Waini, where some 17 cases were detected last weekend.
According to the Minister, special response teams are being set up to go out into areas and specific communities that are showing a trend of spiking cases. These teams comprise medical personnel as well as Joint Services ranks from Operation COVI-CURB.
They went to Baramita and conducted tests on residents as well as sanitise public spaces and engaged persons on prevention measures against the virus.
Meanwhile, in Region 10, Dr Anthony said they were monitoring a number of communities where the COVID-19 cases have spiked – one community recorded 23 cases and another one, 15 cases.
“We’re going to continue to look at areas of interests and repeat the same exercise because the normal way of how we treat and gather information – sometimes we don’t have enough [medical] people in particular areas, but we might have an interest in those areas because of some of the trends that we’re seeing. So, we’re now developing these teams that we can deployed to those areas and get a better sense of what is happening,” the Health Minister said.
Nonetheless, health authorities are reminding Guyanese to observe the protocols of the COVID-19 Emergency Measures (No 11), which are in effect until December 31, 2020. This order emphasises, among other things, the need for correct and consistent use of a face mask when leaving home; the importance of maintaining six feet of physical distance from others; and the need for good hand hygiene to help reduce the spread of COVID-19.
If anyone is displaying any of the symptoms associated with COVID-19, or need any additional information, kindly contact the COVID-19 Hotline 231-1166, 226-7480 or 624-6674 immediately or visit www.health.gov.gy
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), as of Wednesday, some 72,196,732 COVID-19 confirmed cases were reported globally along with 1,630,521 deaths.