5 new COVID-19 cases recorded; 1 in ICU

Another five persons have tested positive for the novel coronavirus within a 24-hour period, according to the Health Ministry on Sunday.
Consequently, active cases in Guyana are now 111, including one patient in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the remaining persons in isolation, that is, 107 in home isolation and the other three in institutional isolation.
In addition, there are also more persons in institutional quarantine.
Guyana’s COVID-19 death toll remains at 1281, with the latest fatality recorded on September 15 after an 88-year-old male from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) died as a result of the virus. This is one of three COVID-19 fatalities recorded thus far this month.
Meanwhile, some 69,864 persons have recovered from the life-threatening virus to date – 39 more recoveries than the figure reported the previous day.
Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Guyana over two years ago, a total 692,730 tests have been conducted countrywide and of this, some 32,660 males and 38,596 females were found to be positive.
Of the five new cases recorded on Sunday, two were from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), another two cases from the Demerara-Mahaica region and the one remaining case from Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice).
There were no new cases recorded in the other seven regions across the country within the reporting 24-hour period.
Back in March, the Guyana Government had removed most restrictions as the country recovers from the pandemic and returns to normalcy.
Nevertheless, health authorities continue to urge persons to get vaccinated and for those qualified to get their booster shots as an added layer of protection against the virus.
The latest vaccination figures show that so far, over 446,400 adults or 87 per cent have taken a first dose while more than 346,300 or 67.5 per cent of persons 18 years and older are fully vaccinated.
For adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17, in excess of 35,700 or 49 per cent of them have received first doses and of that amount, nearly 26,200 or 35.9 per cent received a second dose.
Vaccines are also being administered to children in the five to 11 category and so far, more than 8100 or eight per cent have gotten a first dose, while only about 3900 or 3.9 per cent of this cohort have returned for the second dose.
Moreover, in excess of 73,400 booster shots were taken to date by the various age groups.
Last week, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony reported that while most of the population would have taken at least a first and second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, only a small portion of these persons – 12.5 per cent of the population – have returned for their booster shots.
According to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) recent figures, some 608,328,548 confirmed cases were reported globally along with 6,501,469 deaths.
In the Region of the Americas, that is, Latin America and the Caribbean, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased to 177,229,128 while the death toll in the Region has gone up to 2,828,219.
As it relates to vaccination against COVID-19, the WHO also reported that a total of 12,613,484,608 doses have been administered worldwide. (G8)