Guyana is experiencing its worst month of the coronavirus pandemic, with 56 persons losing their lives in April after contracting the virus.
On Monday, five more deaths were reported, taking the country’s overall death toll to 289.
The most recent deaths are a 79-year-old male from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara); a 70-year-old female from Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice); a 46-year-old male from Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne); a 72-year-old female and a 46-year-old male from Region four (Demerara-Mahaica). They all died while receiving care at medical facilities.
Previously on Sunday, another three deaths were announced. They were a 55-year-old female from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara); and two men, a 72-year-old and a 42-year-old, both from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica).
On Saturday, the Ministry had reported that two other males died on that day – a 72-year-old and a 42-year-old, both from Region Four as well.
For Monday, the dashboard showed 51 new cases, which contributed to the total 12,754 positives detected to date. This is after 300 persons were tested within 24 hours.
Active cases stand at 1587 – 16 in the Intensive Care Unit, 72 in institutional isolation and 1499 in home isolation. Another 10 are in institutional quarantine. Of the 117,690 persons tested for the virus, 6450 males and 6304 females tested positive. However, 10,880 of them have since recovered completely.
An analysis of the new cases determined that one was from Region One (Barima-Waini), four from Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), 19 in Region Four, one in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), 16 in Region Six, five in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) and five in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo).
The cases in Region Three, Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and Region 10 remain at 1434, 1020 and 856, respectively.
Speaking on immunisation was the Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony, on Monday, cautioning that persons can still contract the virus between the first and second doses. This is since the body is still building antibodies to defend against infections.
“In the period when you’re still vulnerable after you get the first injection to that 21 days, you can still get infected because we’re saying that none of the vaccines would prevent 100 per cent infection. There is that little possibility that you can get infected.”
If a person is infected after 21 days of the first dose, then their chances of contracting a severe form of the virus is “drastically” reduced. This is owing to an increase in the antibody count that would heighten protection.
“Your body now has antibodies that fight off this virus. If you get infected 21 days after the first dose, you wouldn’t get that severe form of the disease, you more or likely won’t end up in the hospital or ICU and it will certainly prevent you from dying from COVID,” he expressed.
As soon as a person develops breathing difficulties after testing positive, they are asked to visit a medical facility immediately as it is considered the onset of moderate symptoms.
“There is a measurement that is taken to check the oxygen saturation in your blood and if that is relatively low, you would require oxygen. Most people would require oxygen once you get hospitalised and we provide that. But then as the virus starts to multiply in your body, it then provokes the body to react to it and during that reaction time for some people, your immune system can overact,” the health official indicated.
The overreaction, he said, can cause multiple systems in the body to start failing, causing shock and other complications. Taking this into consideration, the public is asked to take precautions and abide by outlined measures. (G12)
