Active COVID-19 cases drop below 220

Guyana is witnessing a reduction in active COVID cases, directly linked to the lowered daily infections being reported.
On Saturday, only nine positives surfaced via the Health Ministry’s dashboard. Guyana has 71,084 confirmed cases – 32,589 males and 38,496 females. Now, active cases stand at 214.
Amid the rise of self-testing kits and the virus now mimicking the common flu, health officials have contended that the numbers detected daily is an underestimate of the current COVID-19 situation.
Just last month, Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony asserted that even when presented with signs and symptoms of the COVID-19, persons are choosing not to get tested for the virus. This has created a blurred picture on the gravity of infection spread in the country.
The country’s death toll remains at 1279 while one person is admitted in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). There are 10 persons in institutional isolation, 203 in home isolation and another three in institutional quarantine.
Meanwhile, recoveries have hit just under 69,600. Guyana has also facilitated testing for 688,796 samples since the pandemic started.
Most recent vaccination figures show that so far, 446,000 or 86.9 per cent of adults have taken a first dose, while some 345,757 or 67.4 per cent of persons are fully vaccinated.
For adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17, 35,588 first doses or 48.7 per cent and 26,091 or 35.7 per cent second doses have been administered.
Vaccination for children in the five to 11 category shows 7844 first doses or 7.7 per cent. Only 3105 or three per cent have returned for their second shot. In addition, 72,526 persons have returned for their booster shots thus far.
In the Region of the Americas, that is, Latin America and the Caribbean, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased to 175 million while the death toll in the Region has gone up to 2.8 million.
Globally, there are 601 million confirmed positives with 6.4 million deaths.
Symptoms of the coronavirus include fever, cough, tiredness, diarrhoea, pains, sore throat and loss of taste or smell. The more serious symptoms are difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, chest pain and loss of speech or movement.
If anyone is displaying any of the symptoms associated with COVID-19 or needs any additional information, they are asked to contact the COVID-19 Hotline 231-1166, 226-7480 or 624-6674 immediately or visit www.health.gov.gy. (G12)