71-year-old man is latest COVID-19 death

…Govt sourcing new antiviral pill with PAHO’s help

Guyana’s novel coronavirus death toll has risen to 1,254 after the country recorded its latest COVID-19 death.
The latest COVID-19 fatality is a 71-year-old man of Demerara-Mahaica, who succumbed to the virus on Wednesday. His vaccination status is not known.
Additionally, 70 new COVID-19 cases have been recorded in the last 24 hours, taking the number of active cases to 849. There are two persons in institutional quarantine, 821 in home isolation, 26 in institutional isolation, and two in the ICU.
Latest vaccination figures show that, so far, 443,742 persons, or 86.5 percent of persons 18 years and over (adults), have taken the first dose of a vaccine, while some 343,532 persons, or 66.9 percent of adults are fully vaccinated.
25,622 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17, or 35.1 percent, are fully vaccinated, while 35,025 adolescents, or 48 percent, have taken the first dose of a vaccine.
Vaccination is also available for children between the ages of five and 11 years, and 3,571 of them have received the first dose thus far.
Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony announced on Thursday, during a recent COVID-19 update, that second dose vaccine administration for the 5-11 cohort is expected to begin next week.

Sourcing new treatment
Anthony also noted that, with the help of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Guyana is working on acquiring a new antiviral pill, Paxlovid, to treat high-risk COVID-19 patients in an effort to prevent hospitalisations and deaths.
“We have been working with PAHO and UNICEF to be able to source Paxlovid, and we’re hopeful that we will be able to get the supply of Paxlovid very soon,” Dr. Anthony said.
At present, COVID-19 patients are being treated with Remdesivir. In April, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the antiviral Veklury (Remdesivir) as the first COVID-19 treatment for young children.
Paxlovid was granted an emergency use authorization (EUA) by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in December of last year for anyone aged 12 and older, who weighs at least 88 pounds and is at high risk for severe disease.
Paxlovid is an oral antiviral pill that can be taken at home to help keep high-risk patients from getting so sick that they need to be hospitalised. According to Yale University, the antiviral pill that was developed by Pfizer has a lot of positives, and is expected to work against the Omicron variant. (G2)