38 persons test positive for COVID from 420 swabs

…virus has evolved to milder infection – Health Minister

With 38 new cases of COVID-19 as of Thursday, the country’s total confirmed cases made another jump to 70, 926. The new infections came from a batch of 420 test samples.
The statistics were published on the Health Ministry’s daily dashboard, with the death toll remaining at 1278. In terms of gender, 32,502 males and 38,424 females have been infected thus far.
The number of persons in the designated COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) remains at two. The number of individuals in home isolation is eight, with 302 in institutional isolation and two in institutional quarantine. Of the confirmed cases, 69,336 persons have recovered.
As new infections surface, the Health Ministry is monitoring 312 active cases – a slight decline from last week’s figures. Ten persons are hospitalised – eight of them at the Infectious Diseases Hospital.
Thursday’s vaccination numbers indicate that so far, 445,855 or 86.9 per cent of adults have taken a first dose, while some 345,610 or 67.4 per cent are fully vaccinated.
For adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17, 35,561 have had first doses or 48.8 per cent and 26,069 or 35.7 per cent, second doses.
Vaccination numbers for children in the age five to 11 category show 7774 first doses or 7.6 per cent. Only 3008 or 2.9 per cent have returned for their second shot. In addition, 72,329 persons have returned for their booster shots thus far.
Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony underscored during the COVID-19 update that authorities were relying on parents to bring their children to health facilities in order to get them vaccinated.
However, he added, “I think there is still a lot of reluctance and we’re not seeing as many parents bringing their children to be vaccinated. We have worked very hard to get vaccines, especially for the five to 11 age group in the country…We have adequate supplies of vaccines. What we would like to see is parents making sure that their children are properly vaccinated. There is a lot of room for growth.”
An evolving pattern of the COVID-19 virus has led authorities to changes in the way the pandemic is managed, especially positive patients. As such, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have removed the incubation period quarantine for infected persons.
According to the Health Minister, adopting this stance here can result in irresponsible behaviour, since positive patients can mingle in the public without taking precautions.
“The pattern of the disease has changed, where you’re now seeing a milder form of infection. Incubation periods have shortened and that is why I think the CDC has recently changed their guidelines. So, they no longer require persons to stay at home if they test positive, but if they are going to go out, they have to take precautions by wearing an N95 mask so that they don’t infect others.”
In the Region of the Americas, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased to 173 million while the death toll has gone up to 2.8 million.
Globally, there are 590 million confirmed positive cases with 6.4 million deaths.
If anyone is displaying any of the symptoms associated with COVID-19, or need any additional information, they are asked to contact the COVID-19 Hotline on 231-1166, 226-7480 or 624-6674 immediately or visit www.health.gov.gy. (G12)