7 new COVID-19 cases; active cases now at 150

The Public Health Ministry reported seven new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in Guyana up to 327.
This was indicated in the Ministry’s updated COVID-19 dashboard.
Presently, the number of active cases in Guyana is 150, of which 145 persons are in institutional isolation and the other five are patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) located at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
Additionally, there are 13 persons in institutional quarantine.
To date, a total of 3603 persons have been tested for the novel coronavirus, of which 3276 were negative.
While the COVID-19 death toll remains at 19, the number of persons who have recovered from the life-threatening disease has increased by seven – bringing the total number of recoveries to 163.
Only on Friday, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr Karen Gordon-Boyle disclosed that the country’s recovery rate is at 50 per cent. She said authorities are looking to have a similar decline in the number of positive cases and as such, pleaded with citizens to adhere to the guidelines in place to protect themselves and others from contracting the deadly virus.
The DCMO’s pleas come on the heels of the National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF) relaxing some of the emergency measures that were put in place to curb the spread of the virus. This relaxation is part of Government’s plans to reopen the economy.
Phase Three of the national reopening plan entails a change in the curfew hours to 20:00h to 06:00h (8 pm to 6 am).
However, this curfew will not apply to Regions Five (Mahaica-Berbice), which has not recorded any COVID-19 cases, and Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), which only had one case that was imported from the United States, on Mondays to Fridays, but shall be in effect during weekends.

Meanwhile, the previous 18:00h to 06:00h curfew will remain in Aranka and Arangoy in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), and Moruca in Region One (Barima-Waini) until August 3. These areas have been hard hit by high numbers of coronavirus cases. In fact, these two regions are targeted for intervention owing to the uncontrollable infection rate.
On the other hand, food services and restaurants are permitted to open for delivery, drive-thru, curbside pickup and take away services from 06:00h to midnight daily. Indoor and buffet dining is prohibited.
Outdoor dining at restaurants will be permitted from 6 am to 6 pm under strict conditions. They are required to place tables six feet apart from each other with no more than four persons permitted to sit at one table, at least three feet apart.
Public transportation services (except in Aranka, Arangoy and Moruca) are now allowed to operate at a 75 per cent passenger capacity. Private Sector construction is permitted to resume, including clothing, shoes and book stores.
On this note, the DCMO has warned, “I know that many of us will want to take full advantage of these new measures, but please do not throw caution to the wind and behave as if the situation is back to normal. Do not forget that COVID-19 is still a highly infectious disease, that there will be asymptomatic persons around us from whom we may become infected. Do not take unnecessary risks and leave home without your mask and fail to observe the physical distancing protocol.”
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the total number of COVID-19 cases in the region of the Americas is more than 7,306,000 while the number of deaths is over 302,500.
Globally, there is in excess of 13,876,000 coronavirus cases recorded while the death toll has reached over 593,000. (G8)