Active COVID-19 cases at 143, 4 in ICU, 6 new infections detected

Six more persons tested positive for the novel coronavirus within a 24-hour period, the Health Ministry reported on Friday.
According to the Ministry’s updated COVID-19 dashboard, the total number of confirmed cases in Guyana is now 63,181.
However, only 143 of these are currently active cases including four patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Of the other 139 persons, 11 are currently in institutional isolation and the remaining 128 are in home isolation.
There are also another 21 persons in institutional quarantine.
The Health Ministry did not report any new fatalities on Friday hence the country’s COVID-19 death toll remains at 1226.
So far, some 61,812 persons have recovered from the life-threatening disease – 20 new recoveries when compared to the figure reported the previous day.
Meanwhile, since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Guyana, a total 558,543 tests have been conducted countrywide and of this, some 29,093 males and 34,088 females were found to be positive.
Of the six cases recorded on Friday, three were from Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) and the remaining three from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica).
There were no new cases in the other eight regions across the country within that 24-hour period.
This declining trend in COVID-19 cases has resulted in the Guyana Government earlier this week removing most restrictions as the country moves to recover from the pandemic and return to normalcy.
But while mandates such as masking in public and social distancing are no longer in place, health authorities are still encouraging persons to get vaccinated, and for those who are qualified to get their booster shots, in order to add a layer of protection against the virus.
Latest figures show that so far, more than 436,886 or 85.2 per cent of adults have taken a first dose and of that amount, some 334,537 or 65.2 per cent of persons 18 years and over are fully vaccinated.
For adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17, approximately 34,144 or 46.8 per cent of them have received their first dose, while some 24,780 or 34 per cent of them are fully immunised.
In addition, in excess of 55,722 persons have returned for their booster shots thus far.
According to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s) recent figures, some 464,809,377 confirmed cases were reported globally along with 6,062,536 deaths.
In the Region of the Americas, that is, Latin America and the Caribbean, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased to 149,435,827 while the death toll in the region has gone up to 2,667,880.
As it relates to vaccination against COVID-19, the WHO also reported that a total of 10,925,055,390 doses have been administered worldwide. (G8)