Four persons lost their lives to the novel coronavirus disease in one day, contributing to 14 deaths within the first week of May.
The Health Ministry announced the latest fatalities on Friday as four women: a 69-year-old from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), a 29-year-old from Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni); and a 52-year-old and a 65-year-old from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica).
These persons died while receiving care at a medical facility on Thursday. As such, the country’s death toll has moved up to 314.
From 1118 swabs that were taken for testing on Friday, 116 persons tested positive for COVID-19. Now, the total confirmed cases is up to 14,073 – comprising of 7051 males and 7022 females.
There are 1831 active cases: 14 patients seeking treatment in the Intensive Care Unit, with 101 in institutional isolation and 1716 persons in home isolation. Another 10 persons are in institutional quarantine. Guyana has tested 128,826 persons thus far and some 11,928 infected persons have since recovered.
New cases
New cases were detected across nine administrative regions with three in Region One (Barima-Waini), five in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), seven in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), 38 in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), 11 in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), 20 in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), 10 in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), four in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and nine in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) saw no increases as cases remained at 610.
Presently, there are several hotspots within the 10 regions. In Region Two, the hotspot is Good Hope, where 16 cases were detected. In Region Three, cases are continuously recorded in Tuschen which has about 29 active cases presently. For Region Four, the Sophia and Kitty areas are of concern, in addition to Diamond on the East Bank and Mon Repos on the East Coast.
For Region Six, New Amsterdam is a hotspot with about 27 cases while Bartica in Region Seven has a whopping 58 active cases. Meanwhile, Aishalton in Region Eight recorded approximately 21 cases.
Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony shared during Friday’s coronavirus update that the management of patients varies from asymptomatic to severe cases. For this, treatment varies from antiviral medications in the form of Remdesivir; steroids like dexamethasone or oxygen.
“The milder form don’t require anything specific. Moderate forms depend on the symptomology and we can add some medication. Once you start having respiratory difficulties, then you would need some form of assistance. That’s one of the main reasons why you would be hospitalised.”
President Irfaan Ali announced last month that Government was looking to ramp up enforcement of the COVID-19 guidelines and protocols in light of spiking cases and deaths. He had said efforts are underway to review the laws with the aim of toughening the penalties for those who are caught breaching the measures.
The fines for COVID-19 breaches range between $5000 and $16,000. In recent weeks, the Guyana Police Force has charged scores of persons for these breaches.
