32 new COVID-19 infections; 5 in ICU

Another 32 persons in Guyana have tested positive for the novel coronavirus within the past 24 hours, according to the Health Ministry’s updated COVID-19 dashboard on Sunday.
Consequently, the total number of confirmed cases in Guyana has gone up to 68,194 of which only 738 are currently active cases. This includes five patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the remaining persons in isolation, that is, 36 in institutional isolation and other 697 in home isolation.
One more person is currently in institutional quarantine.
Guyana’s COVID-19 death roll remains at 1251 with the latest fatalities being a 55-year-old male from Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), who died on July 7; a 70-year-old male from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), who died on July 8, and a 79-year-old female from Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), who also died on July 8.
Meanwhile, some 66,194 persons have recovered from the life-threatening virus in the country – 64 more recoveries than the figure reported the previous day.
Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Guyana over two years ago, a total 665,828 tests have been conducted countrywide and of this, some 31,301 males and 36,893 females were found to be positive.
Of the 32 new cases recorded on Sunday, two were from Region One (Barima-Waini), five cases from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) and the remaining 25 cases the Demerara-Mahaica region.
There were no new cases recorded in the other seven regions across the country within the reporting 24-hour period.
After a prolonged period of declining cases, the Guyana Government, back in March, removed most restrictions as the country moves to recover from the pandemic and return to normalcy. But in recent weeks, there has been a spike in COVID cases here, which health authorities have attributed to the BA.2 subvariant of the Omicron strain.
Latest vaccination figures show that so far, more than 443,000 or 86.5 per cent of adults have taken a first dose, while some 343,000 or 67 per cent are fully vaccinated.
For adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17, over 35,000 or 48 per cent of them have received their first dose, and of that amount, some 25,600 or 35.2 per cent are fully immunised.
In the 5 to 11 age group, over 4000 children are inoculated. Administration of the second shot is now due for some persons. Moreover, approximately 68,000 persons have returned for their booster shots thus far.
According to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) recent figures, some 51,226,298 confirmed cases were reported globally along with 6,345,595 deaths.
In the Region of the Americas, that is, Latin America and the Caribbean, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased to 164,535,057 while the death toll in the region has gone up to 2,767,057.
As it relates to vaccination against COVID-19, the WHO also reported that a total of 12,037,259,035 doses have been administered worldwide.