Active cases increase to 638, over 100 new COVDI-19 cases recorded

…Regions 9, 8 recording high uptake with 5-11 vaccines

Another 102 new COVID-19 infections have been detected within a 24-hour period, taking active cases in Guyana up to 638.
This includes 513 persons in home isolation, another 23 persons in institutional isolation, and the remaining one person in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
There are currently 21 persons who tested positive for COVID-19 hospitalised across the country, and of that amount, 10 are at the Infectious Diseases Hospital, or Ocean View Hospital.
Additionally, three other persons are currently in institutional quarantine.
The total number of confirmed cases in the country is now 69,948, while some 68,140 persons have recovered from the life-threatening virus to date. The COVID-19 death toll in Guyana remains at 1,271.
Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Guyana over two years ago, a total 677,631 tests have been conducted countrywide, and of this, some 32,063 males and 37,885 females were found to be positive.
Of the 102 new cases recorded on Wednesday, seven were from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), 65 were from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), 16 were from Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), another 10 were from Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) and the remaining four were from Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo).
There were no new cases recorded in the other five regions across the country within the reporting 24-hour period.
After a prolonged period of declining cases, the Guyana Government, back in March, removed most restrictions as the country moved to recover from the pandemic and return to normalcy. But in recent weeks, there has been a spike in COVID cases here, which health authorities have attributed to subvariants of the Omicron strain, such as the BA.5.

<<Vaccination>>
To this end, health authorities are urging persons to get vaccinated, and for those qualified, to get their booster shots.
Latest vaccination figures show that, so far, more than 445,082 persons, or 86.8 per cent of adults, have taken a first dose, while over 344,732 persons or 67.2 per cent of persons 18 years and over, are fully vaccinated.
For adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17, just over 35,421 doses or 48.6 per cent have received their first dose, while 25,916 or 35.5 per cent of them have returned for their second dose.
Vaccines administered to children within the ages of five and 11 years have surpassed 6,819 doses, which is about 6.7 per cent of that age cohort. Second doses for this group are just over 1,967, or 1.9 per cent.
According to Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony during the COVID-19 update on Wednesday, while the uptake for this younger age group in the various regions varies, some hinterland communities are doing better than others with the 5-11 cohort.
In fact, he disclosed that Region Nine is leading with a 39.9 per cent first dose administration. This, he explained, is “really good”, especially when compared to the countrywide figure. That region is yet to start administering second doses.
However, Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) is also doing “relatively well” with a 36 per cent distribution of first dose and 2.8 per cent for second doses. In Region Seven, first dose administration to this age cohort is 4.7 per cent, while second dose is 3.7 per cent.
For Region One (Barima-Waini), 3 per cent first dose have been distributed and 0.3 per cent for second dose.
Meanwhile, in excess of 71,220 persons have returned for their booster shots thus far.
Dr Anthony on Wednesday pointed out that a lot of people who are due for their booster shots have not been returning.
“Even if you had your primary doses some time ago – a year ago – you really need to get your booster. What the science is now showing is that every six months you should get your boosters, so that you remain current with your vaccination. It helps you to fight off COVID,” he said.
“A lot of people who would’ve received their primary doses believe that they are now fully vaccinated; they are not. They just got the first two doses of vaccines, and they need to get their booster. And you have to keep getting the boosters to remain current. I think people need to understand that,” the Health Minister stated.
According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) recent figures, some 577,018,226 confirmed cases were reported globally, along with 6,401,046 deaths.
In the Region of the Americas; that is: Latin America and the Caribbean, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased to 171,035,917, while the death toll in the region has gone up to 2,790,499.
As it relates to vaccination against COVID-19, WHO also reported that a total of 12,248,795,623 doses have been administered worldwide.