With 72 new cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) as of Monday, Guyana’s figures of positive cases recorded have risen to 1306.
On Sunday, there were 50 new cases. Statistics from the Health Ministry’s dashboard showed a gender breakdown of 646 males and 660 females that have been infected thus far.
This dashboard does not reflect the two most recent deaths
There are 12 persons in the designated Intensive Care Unit – a reduction of one. Meanwhile, 87 persons are in institutional isolation, 129 in institutional quarantine and 451 on home isolation. The total recovered cases stand at 718 – an increase of 31.
A further dissection showed that 15 new cases were detected in Region One (Barima-Waini), one in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), five in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), 43 in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) one in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), six in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) and one in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo).
The other regional figures remain the same with six in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), 15 in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and 75 in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice). To date, 8295 tests were conducted.
WHO approved
As Guyana continues to respond to the pandemic with interventions to curtail the deadly virus, the Health Ministry has addressed concerns about testing for COVID-19. Within the last few weeks, it was noted that a plethora of concerns and even misinformation were circulating about the different testing methods and laboratory confirmation.
It assured members of the public that the test conducted by the National Public Health Reference Laboratory (NPHRL) is molecular Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The Ministry has also noted that antibody rapid tests are available, which may indicate if someone was exposed to the virus. The Ministry in a statement said that it has a process to register these new test kits and allow their use for screening purposes only, adding that these rapid tests are not recommended to diagnose COVID-19.
The rapid test can only indicate, from a sample of blood, if an individual has produced immunoglobulin to the SARS-CoV-2 and does not indicate if someone is currently infected with that virus.
“The Ministry is therefore asking members of the public to desist from comparing these two distinctly different methods of testing (molecular-PCR and antibody-IgM/IgG), since the rapid antibody test is not approved to detect active COVID-19 cases. Using the rapid test, persons may be misled to believe that they may or may not be infected,” the statement said.
The Ministry reiterated that only the molecular-PCR test can credibly identify infected persons and anyone presenting with sign or symptoms of COVID-19 should have a nasal swab and molecular-PCR test done to ascertain their status.
