31 new COVID-19 cases recorded in 24h

Daily detection of COVID infections showed a slight increase on Saturday, after 31 new positives were reported by the Health Ministry.
This is the highest detection within a 24-hour period when compared to statistics from recent weeks. The latest dashboard informed that total confirmed cases has reached 63,570 – 29,274 males and 34,296 females.
With deaths remaining at 1228, the number of persons in the Intensive Care Unit is zero. There are 124 persons in home isolation, one in institutional isolation and two in institutional quarantine.
Meanwhile, 62,217 infected persons have recovered. To date, 603,198 tests have been processed for the novel coronavirus.
Two new Omicron variants have been the cause of increased infections in South Africa, with detections already reported in the United States. The BA.4 and BA.5 strains have been shown to evade vaccines and immunity from being previous infection.
Last week, South African authorities on Friday said that the country will possibly enter its fifth COVID wave due to the rise of the BA.4 and BA.5 variants. Infections are rising, and so are hospitalisation figures. As such, local authorities said this week that the health situation is being monitored.
In the meantime, authorities have cautioned that protecting against a severe form of the virus is only possible if one is up to date with their vaccination and booster shots.
In Guyana, vaccination against COVID has remained relatively low this month, with adult coverage standing at 440,628 first doses or 85.9 per cent; and 339,960 second doses or 66.3 per cent.
For the adolescent category, some 25,301 or 34.7 per cent have been fully immunised. The Health Ministry has been confronted with challenges in immunising this age group – a chief factor being lacking consent from parents and guardians.
Almost 62,900 booster shots have been administered.
If anyone is displaying any of the symptoms associated with COVID-19 or needs any additional information, they are asked to contact the COVID-19 Hotline 231-1166, 226-7480 or 624-6674 immediately or visit www.health.gov.gy.
Global figures reveal that almost 514 million people have tested positive for the virus and 6.24 million have died. In the Americas, more than 153.6 million confirmed cases have been reported with over 2.7 million deaths.
New estimates from the World Health Organisation (WHO) show that the full death toll associated directly or indirectly with the COVID-19 pandemic, described as “excess mortality”, between 2020 and 2021 was approximately 14.9 million.
Most of the excess deaths are concentrated in South-East Asia, Europe, and the Americas at 84 per cent. Some 68 per cent of excess deaths are concentrated in just 10 countries globally. (G12)