Active COVID-19 cases decrease to 629

A total of 6076 cases of COVID-19 have been detected in Guyana, after 34 new cases were recorded on Friday. However, active cases have dropped to 629.
The Health Ministry’s dashboard showed the death toll remaining at 159, the latest of which was a 56-year-old female from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) who died while receiving care at a medical facility on Thursday.
There are six persons in the Intensive Care Unit, 35 persons in institutional isolation, 588 in home isolation and 19 in institutional quarantine. As of present, 5288 patients have completely recovered.
Some 3143 males and 2933 females tested positive thus far while 35,367 individuals were tested for the novel coronavirus.
A breakdown showed that new cases were detected in Region One (Barima-Waini), Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) and Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
The cases in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) remain at 298, 183 and 291 respectively.
Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony gave some insight on how contact tracing is conducted in Guyana after a person tests positive, noting that information is taken from all angles to determine who might be potentially infected.
“When somebody tests positive, what we want to determine is all the persons they would have been in contact with. So, we will interview them to get a sense of who have been close with you, who has been home with you, have you been working, who are your workmates, how do you travel from home to work,” the Minister shared during the COVID-19 update.
He shared that it is difficult to successfully trace a person’s whereabouts when information is withheld from health officials. For this, positive patients must remain truthful to protect others and prevent a larger spread.
“What we are trying to do is establish how many infected persons this person may have been in contact with and for how long and whether or not during this period they were using their masks…All of that can have an impact on transmission… If people withhold information from us, then it’s difficult for us to do such contact tracing.”
Contact tracing is shown to slow the spread of COVID-19 by identifying people that may have been exposed to the virus and monitoring their health for signs and symptoms.
This week, it was announced that the first set of COVID-19 vaccines acquired by Guyana will be used to immunise frontline healthcare workers as the first batch is expected in 2021. This is approximately three per cent of the vaccines needed to immunise the population.
Guyana has been identified as one of the countries eligible for coverage under COVAX, a body of organisations including the World Health Organisation (WHO) that will ensure there is equal access to and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines when it becomes available on the market. Some 20 per cent of Guyana’s vaccines will be distributed through this mechanism.
The holiday season is less than one week away and the Health Minister has already given his final warning on Friday, emphasising the need for people to keep their families safe by adhering to the guidelines.

Correction
In relation to the article published in Guyana Times on December 18, 2020, under the headline “RT-PCR test not accepted for travel purposes”; the Health Ministry has clarified that the “Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction test is the required gold standard testing”.
However, the Rapid Test PCR test would not be accepted, since it is an antigen test. The public should take note of these individual tests, since laboratories can refer to rapid tests as RT-PCR. (G12)