2 Region 4 pensioners succumb to COVID

– 25 new infections detected

Guyana’s COVID-19 death toll further increased after two more persons who tested positive for the novel coronavirus died.
The latest fatalities were an 86-year-old female, who died on Tuesday, and an 83-year-old male who died on Wednesday. They were both from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) and were fully vaccinated at the time of their deaths.
Consequently, the total number of deaths from the virus in Guyana has gone up to 1222.
Meanwhile, 25 more persons have tested positive for COVID-19 within a 24-hour period, which takes the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 62,971, according to the Health Ministry’s updated COVID-19 dashboard on Wednesday.
Active cases in the country are now at 422, including eight patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Of the remaining cases, 25 are in institutional isolation and 389 in home isolation.
On Wednesday, Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony disclosed that communities in Georgetown as well as along the East Bank and East Coast of Demerara continue to be the hotspots for active cases.
“For the first time in several months, active cases in Region Four have been down to 144 cases so that’s really positive,” he noted.
The second-highest number of cases are in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), which currently has 83 cases.
“So, I think, by and large, the numbers are coming down,” the Minister stated.
Moreover, there are currently 33 persons hospitalised across the country, while another 15 are in institutional quarantine.
So far, some 61, 327 persons have recovered from the life-threatening disease – 60 more than the figure reported the previous day.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country, approximately 541,736 persons have been tested so far and of this number, some 28,986 males and 33,985 females were found to be positive.
Of the 25 new cases reported on Wednesday, three were from Region One (Barima-Waini), another three from Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), one from Region Three, 10 from Demerara-Mahaica, one from Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), four from Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) and the remaining three cases from Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo).
There were no new cases recorded in Regions Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) within the 24-hour period.
This apparent decline in COVID-19 cases comes on the heels of widespread surges in infections beginning in late December up until recent weeks. The spikes were attributed to the Omicron variant, which though not as deadly as the Delta variant is highly transmissible.
Health authorities have been encouraging persons to get vaccinated, and those who qualify to get their booster shots, in order to add a layer of protection against the virus.
The latest figures show that so far, 432,821 adults or 84.4 per cent have taken a coronavirus vaccine first dose and of that number, some 328,954 or 64.1 per cent are fully vaccinated.
For adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17, approximately 33,602 or 46.1 per cent have received their first dose, while some 24,293 or 33.3 per cent of them are fully immunised.
So far, an estimated 51,125 persons have returned for their booster shots.
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 – which are more significant now given the rapidly-spreading Omicron variant.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), some 437,333,859 confirmed cases were reported globally along with 5,960,972 deaths.
In the Region of the Americas, that is, Latin America and the Caribbean, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased to 147,068,499 while the death toll has gone up to 2,628,760.