Home News 65 new COVID-19 cases recorded
The Health Ministry reported on Wednesday that 65 new COVID-19 cases were recorded in Guyana during the 24 hours prior.
According to the Ministry’s updated COVID-19 dashboard, the total number of confirmed cases in the country is now 7015 – 3592 males and 3423 females.
Of these, however, only 579 cases are active. These comprise seven patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the remaining 572 persons in isolation – 29 persons in institutional isolation and 543 in home isolation.
In addition, there are 22 persons in institutional quarantine.
The COVID-19 death toll remains at 170 with the last fatality recorded on January 10 when a 65-year-old male from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) died while receiving care at a medical facility.
On the other hand, the number of persons who have recovered from the life-threatening disease to date has gone up to 6266 – 60 more recoveries than the figure reported the previous day.
Meanwhile, Guyana has tested some 44,665 persons for the novel coronavirus thus far.
Of the 65 new cases recorded on Wednesday, one was detected in Region One (Barima-Waini); 11 in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara); 41 cases in Demerara-Mahaica; one case each in Regions Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) and Eight (Potaro-Siparuni); two in Region Nine (Upper Essequibo-Upper Takutu) and seven cases in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
The figures in the other two regions – Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) and Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) – remained the same.
As the number of COVID-19 cases in Guyana continues to raise, health authorities are working on monitoring the situation, particularly in hinterland communities across the country.
In fact, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony during his COVID-19 update on Wednesday said medical officials are monitoring the spike in cases in Regions Five, Six and Eight.
Additionally, he disclosed that a medical team was dispatched to Waramadong, Region Seven, after a spike in COVID-19 cases was recorded. The community has recorded 10 positive cases and according to the Minister, the medical team there will also conduct sanitisation and sensitisation exercises.
“In a lot of these communities, persons are not wearing masks so they are exposed to those who have been affected. Now that we have identified the positives and isolated them, we are now working with the community to sensitise them and we will be doing some more testing over the next couple of days,” Dr Anthony noted.
Moreover, the Health Minister said they were also monitoring Mahdia and Paramakatoi, in the Potaro-Siparuni Region, which have recorded several cases.
“We have our medical team on standby and will be monitoring the developments in these communities,” he added.
Moraikobai in Region Five and New Amsterdam and Orealla-Siparuta in Region Six are also being closely monitored.
According to Minister Anthony, New Amsterdam has recorded 36 positive cases. He went on to urge Moraikobai residents to co-operate with health officials to suppress cases there.
Dr Anthony said while it was only recently that border communities were under closer supervision, a number of new cases have been recorded. This is not unusual, he said, and the Regional Task Force in Region Six is monitoring the situation.
“We have a few cases we are monitoring, but it’s not that alarming. However, we have to take precautions, educate persons, and remind them to practise social distancing and to wear masks,” Minister Anthony said, as he continued to encourage the public to observe the gazetted precautionary measures to suppress the virus.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), as of Wednesday, some 94,963,847 confirmed cases were reported globally along with 2,050,857 deaths.
Who also reported in the Region of the Americas, that is, Latin America and the Caribbean, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased to 42,184,253 while the death toll has gone up to 969,089. (G8)