Active COVID-19 cases climb to 651 

The Ministry of Health on Sunday reported that 52 persons have tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) within a 24-hour period.
This now takes the total number of confirmed cases in Guyana to 64,617. However, only 651 of these are currently active cases including three patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the remaining persons in isolation, that is, 24 in institutional isolation and the other 624 in home isolation.
Another four more persons are also in institutional quarantine.
The COVID-19 death toll in the country remains at 1233. The last fatality was recorded on May 27 when an unvaccinated 66-year-old female from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) died.
Meanwhile, some 62,733 persons have recovered from the life-threatening disease.
Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Guyana over two years ago, a total 627,824 tests have been conducted countrywide and of this, some 29,713 males and 34,904 females were found to be positive.
Of the 52 new cases recorded on Sunday, one was from Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), nine cases from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), a whopping 35 cases from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), five more from Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), and one case each from Regions Nine (Upper Takutu-Essequibo) and 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
There were no new cases recorded in the other four regions within the reporting 24-hour period.
Earlier this month, health authorities attributed this rapid increase in COVID-19 cases to the BA.2 subvariant of the Omicron strain here.
After a prolonged period of declining cases, the Guyana Government, back in March, removed 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 adult vaccination numbers show 441,911 first doses and 341,493 second doses being administered, translating to 86.1 per cent and 66.6 per cent of that demographic being vaccinated.
For children, 34,689 first doses and 25,414 second doses have been administered. Only 64,989 booster shots have been administered.
These vaccination numbers have been largely stagnant within the past weeks, as authorities continue to implore with Guyanese to get boosted.
According to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) recent figures, some 525,467,084 confirmed cases were reported globally along with 6,285,171 deaths.
In the Region of the Americas, that is, Latin America and the Caribbean, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased to 156,560,365 while the death toll in the region has gone up to 2,740,558.