As of Thursday, the country has recorded 80 new cases of the novel coronavirus, taking the total of cases detected to date to 69,252.
There are 32 persons hospitalised, five of whom are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) while 866 are in home isolation. Five persons are in institutional quarantine. The recoveries stand at 67,081.
The country’s death toll remains at 1268.
Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Guyana over two years ago, a total of 672,314 tests have been conducted countrywide and of this number, some 31,760 males and 37, 492 females were found to be positive.
Of the 80 new cases recorded, one was recorded in Region One (Barima-Waini); four in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam); two in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara); 43 in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica); two in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice); 11 in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne); 12 in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) and five in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
There were no new cases recorded in Regions Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) within the reporting 24-hour period. On Wednesday, Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony encouraged persons who are experiencing flu-like symptoms to get tested for COVID-19.
The Minister explained that the disease has recently started to present with more flu-like symptoms than previously, leaving many persons thinking they have the common flu rather than COVID-19.
“There’s lots of people who might be infected, to them it looks like a flu ,but if they go and do the test, it probably is COVID, because the presentation, now you see a lot of flu-like symptoms, so unless you test you wouldn’t know if you have COVID,” he explained.
The Minister continued to lament that many persons have not only been hesitant to take the vaccines but are complacent as well.
He also urged persons to not take vaccination lightly as cases have recently risen globally.
The World Health Organisation (WHO), as recent as Tuesday, reported that the number of COVID-19 cases has tripled and hospitalisation rates doubled globally with the emergence of the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants.
“So, they have a tripling of cases globally and you have a doubling of hospitalisation, so it is not something that we should treat lightly… One way of avoiding severe infection is through vaccination, and I think we have to reinforce that message, so that our population can understand that. So, now is not the time to be complacent if more than six months have gone by since last COVID shot, then you’re eligible for a booster,” Dr Anthony stated.
