5 more COVID-19 deaths recorded in Region 4

…Dr Anthony warns against being complacent
…as 276 new infections detected

Guyana’s COVID-19 death toll has been further increased after five more persons died. All of those persons were from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), and each had tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
These latest fatalities are: a 41-year-old female and an 80-year-old female, both of whom died on Monday. The others are a 63-year-old female, an 86-year-old female and an 81-year-old male, who all died on Tuesday.
According to the Health Ministry, with exception of the 63-year-old woman, who was partially immunised, the vaccination status of each of the other four victims is unknown.
These five fatalities have now taken the total number of deaths from the pandemic in Guyana to 1,176. Of this, 115 COVID-19 deaths were recorded in the month of January, while the death toll for February so far is six.
Meanwhile, there have been 276 new infections detected within a 24-hour period, according to the Health Ministry’s updated COVID-19 Dashboard on Wednesday.
Consequently, the total number of confirmed cases in Guyana has gone up to 60,385. However, active cases have been reduced by more than one thousand to 8,595. This includes 12 patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the remaining 8,583 persons are in isolation. That is, 184 in institutional isolation and the remaining 8,399 in home isolation.
There are an additional 17 persons currently in institutional quarantine, according to the Dashboard.
Moreover, some 50,614 persons have to date recovered from the life-threatening disease– 1,320 more recoveries than the figure reported on the previous day.
Since outbreak of COVID-19 in the country, approximately 510,686 persons have been tested so far; and of this number, some 27,914 males and 32,471 females were found to be positive.
Of the 276 new cases reported on Wednesday, 41 were from Region One (Barima-Waini); eight were from Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam); 22 were from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara); a whopping 99 were from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica); 25 were from Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice); 23 were from Region Six (East Berbice -Corentyne); six were from Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni); 50 were from Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo), and two were from Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice).
There were no new cases recorded in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) within that 24-hour period.
While it is on the decline now, the surge in COVID-19 cases over the past several weeks has been attributed to the Omicron variant, which though not deadly is highly transmissible. As such, health authorities are urging persons to get vaccinated; and those who are qualified are urged to get their booster shots in order to add a layer of protection against the virus.
Latest figures show that, so far, over 424,702 persons, or 82.8 per cent of the adult population, have taken the first dose of an anti-COVID vaccine, while more than 314,960 persons, or 61.4 per cent of persons 18 years and over, are fully immunised.
For children between the ages of 12 and 17, some 32,703 persons, or 44.8 per cent of that demographic, have received the first does of a vaccine, while 23,156 persons, or 31.7 per cent of adolescents, have been fully inoculated.
Meanwhile, over 40,220 persons have thus far each taken their booster dose.
But as more people continue to get vaccinated, authorities are urging members of the public to continue observing all COVID-19 preventative measures; particularly masking in public, observing social distancing, and practising frequent hand-washing and sanitising – which are more significant now with the rapidly-spreading Omicron variant.
In fact, during Wednesday’s COVID-19 update, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony reiterated the importance of persons not being complacent because of the mildness of this new variant, and to take the necessary precautions to protect themselves against being infected.
“It is not advisable that people just go out there and throw caution to the wind and don’t use mask, don’t get vaccinated and so forth. It is very important that people take precautions to avoid getting the infection,” he asserted.
According to Dr Anthony, while the Omicron variant is milder, there has been a steady increase of COVID patients at hospitals across the country. These, he explained, are mostly older persons, unvaccinated persons, and persons with comorbidities.
Moreover, the Health Minister disclosed that Guyana has recorded a number of cases with COVID-19 patients suffering from long-term effects, referred to as “long-COVID”, after contracting the virus.
Long Covid has been described as symptoms that continue for more than 12 weeks after COVID-19 infection, which cannot be explained by another cause.
Minister Anthony explained that symptoms of long-COVID can develop when a person is infected with the disease or even after recovery. It could also cause damage to the kidney, heart ailments, temporary memory loss, and even induce certain non-communicable diseases such as diabetes.
“Most people are aware of COVID pneumonia, and that’s what a lot of people were having, especially when we had the Delta variant circulating. COVID pneumonia would prevent you from breathing properly, that’s why we had to put a lot of people on ventilators,” he stated.
In response to this development, Dr Anthony revealed that the Health Ministry has established a “multi-disciplinary” medical team at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC) to treat and manage patients with long-COVID.
“Within the Georgetown Public Hospital, we have a multi-disciplinary team that has been established, so that when we identify patients with long-COVID, they can come and, depending on the symptoms that they are showing, the relevant specialists will be able to help them with the relevant care and management,” the Health Minister stated. (G8)