…100 new cases across 9 regions
Guyana’s wave of the coronavirus pandemic continues to scale higher, with three more reported deaths as of Saturday and an alarming 100 new positives.
The Health Ministry reported that three more males have died, moving the death toll up to 462. For June, 61 persons have succumbed. The latest fatalities are a 53-year-old from Region Three and a 57-year-old from Region Six, both of whom died on June 14. The third person is a 79-year-old from Region Six who died on June 22. 
These patients were admitted with COVID-19 like symptoms but died while receiving care at medical institutions. Samples were taken at the time of admission which subsequently returned positive tests.
An updated dashboard showed an increase of 100 new cases within 24 hours, raising the confirmed cases since the pandemic started to 19,774. For June, 2822 positives were detected while in one week, the figure is 678.
There are 1665 active cases: 19 in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), 93 in institutional isolation and 1553 in home isolation. Another four persons are in institutional quarantine. To date, 184,476 persons have been tested in Guyana – of which 9651 males and 10,123 females were positive. Of this number, there were 17,647 recoveries.
New positives were detected across nine administrative regions, with a breakdown of four in Region One (Barima-Waini), six in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), 12 in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), 36 in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), two in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), six in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), 19 in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), 18 in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) and seven in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
Cases in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) are still at 379.
Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony warned in his latest update to the public that unvaccinated persons are at very high risk of getting infected and hospitalized from the Delta variant.
“This one is very severe and what they have noted is that people who are unvaccinated would be the persons who would be getting infected with this variant more often. So, unvaccinated persons are going to be at higher risk of getting infected with this particular variant. There is also that possibility that even if you had an infection before, that you can get reinfected,” he had outlined on Friday.
This variant, which was first detected in India, is said to be the most contagious yet as authorities continue to track the spread which it has caused. In fact, the transmissibility is said to be twice higher than the UK’s Alpha variant. The strain has been dominant in many countries, including the US and UK. It has caused a resurgence of the infections in Portugal and current spikes in Russia.
The Minister further cautioned, “It is causing an increase in cases and it is causing more hospitalisation and possibly more deaths. This particular variant have nine mutations on the spike protein and because of where these mutations have occurred, this particular variant is more transmissible. It is twice more transmissible than the Alpha variant, which was the one in the UK. That is one of the hallmarks. If people get it, it is going to be passed on very quickly.”
If anyone is displaying any of the symptoms associated with COVID-19 or needs any additional information, contact the COVID-19 Hotline 231-1166, 226-7480 or 624-6674 immediately or visit www.health.gov.gy. (G12)
