– emergency measures extended to June 30
Guyana’s COVID-19 death toll has gone up to 385 after three more persons who tested positive for the novel coronavirus died. 
According to the Ministry of Health on Sunday, these latest fatalities were all recorded in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) last week. They include a 58-year-old woman who died on Thursday, while the other two persons – a 65-year-old male and a 71-year-old female – died on Friday.
The Ministry said 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.
Only Saturday, two other COVID-19 deaths were reported. However, with these three more fatalities reported on Sunday, the COVID-19 death toll for May has gone up to 81 – the deadliest month since the outbreak of the virus here last year. April recorded the second highest deaths thus far with 66.
Meanwhile, another 88 persons have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in the last 24 hours in Guyana.
According to new statistics provided by the Health Ministry on Sunday, the total number of confirmed cases in the country has now increased to 16,910.
However, only 2122 of these are currently active cases. This includes 23 patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the remaining 2099 persons in isolation, that is, 103 in institutional isolation and the other 1996 in home isolation.
There are also five more persons in institutional quarantine.
Some 14,506 persons have since recovered from the life-threatening virus in Guyana to date – 38 more recoveries than the figure recorded the previous day.
Additionally, a total of 153,633 persons have been tested for the novel coronavirus in Guyana over the past year, of which 8386 males and 8524 females were found to be positive.
Of the 88 new COVID-19 cases detected on Sunday, one was in Region One (Barima-Waini); six cases in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam); 15 in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara); a whopping 33 cases in the Demerara-Mahaica region; four in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice); 11 cases in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne); another four in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) and 14 cases in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo).
No new cases were recorded in the other two regions, Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), in the last 24 hours.
In order to protect citizens and move towards achieving herd immunity, the Guyana Government has been aggressively rolling out the COVID-19 vaccination campaign and pleading with persons to get immunised against the deadly virus.
To date, more than 194,700 persons have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in Guyana, of which over 65,500 persons are now fully immunised. These numbers are expected to rise as the vaccination exercise continues to be rolled across the country.
Emergency measures extended
In the meantime, Health authorities have extended the COVID-19 Emergency Measures for another month without any changes. The extended measures were published in the Official Gazette and will take effect from June 1 until June 30, 2021.
Nevertheless, persons are being urged to observe the protocols of the COVID-19 Emergency Measures (No 18). This order imposes a 22:30h (10:30 pm) to 04:00h (4 am) national curfew, which the National COVID-19 Taskforce has been working to enforce by prosecuting persons who are in breach of the measures.
It also emphasises, among other things, the need for correct and consistent use of a face mask when leaving your home; the importance of maintaining the six feet physical distance from others, and the need for good hand hygiene to help reduce the spread of COVID-19.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), as of Sunday, some 169,597,415 confirmed cases were reported globally along with 3,530,582 deaths.
The WHO also reported on Sunday that in the Region of the Americas, that is, Latin America and the Caribbean, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased to 67,178,933 while the death toll in the region has gone up to 1,646,407.
If anyone is displaying any of the symptoms associated with COVID-19 or needs any additional information, kindly contact the COVID-19 Hotline 231-1166, 226-7480 or 624-6674 immediately or visit www.health.gov.gy.
