Active COVID-19 cases drop to 418 as 35 new cases recorded

The Ministry of Health on Sunday reported that another 35 new cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) were detected in the last 24 hours from some 795 tests conducted.
According to new statistics provided by the Ministry, the total number of confirmed cases in Guyana is now 8585 – 4433 males and 4152 females.
However, the country’s active cases dropped to 418, which is 74 cases less than the previous day.
These active cases include four patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the other 414 persons in isolation with 23 of them institutionalised and the remaining 391 at home.
There is also another nine persons in institutional quarantine.
Meanwhile, the COVID-19 death toll remains at 195, with the latest fatalities being a 38-year-old male from Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazruni) and a 79-year-old female from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), both of whom died on February 24 while receiving care at medical facilities.
In the last 24 hours, only one person has recovered from the life-threatening virus, taking the total number of recoveries thus far to 7972.
To date, some 65,258 persons have been tested for the novel coronavirus in Guyana.
Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony last week acknowledged that the vast increase in the number of tests conducted is as a result of persons travelling, particularly to the United States, being required to get tested.
Of the 35 new cases recorded on Sunday, seven were detected in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), a whopping 23 cases in the Demerara-Mahaica region, one in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) and four cases in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
The figures in the other six regions – Region One (Barima-Waini), Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), the Cuyuni-Mazaruni region, Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) – remained the same.
As the number of cases continues to increase in the country, Government two weeks ago rolled out the administration of the COVID-19 vaccines in Guyana. That batch of AstraZeneca vaccines was donated by the Government of Barbados and it has already been used to vaccinate over 2000 frontline healthcare workers.
Last Monday, Dr Anthony said that they would go ahead and administer all the vaccines donated by Barbados as the first dose and await the arrival of follow-up vaccines to administer the second dose. He subsequently announced on Friday last that Guyana would be getting 80,000 doses of the AstraZeneca jab from India early this month.
Meanwhile, Guyana is currently awaiting the arrival of another batch of 104,000 vaccines from the COVAX facility (co-led by WHO, UNICEF, Gavi – the Vaccine Alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations).
In the meantime, health authorities are reminding all Guyanese to observe the protocols of the COVID-19 Emergency Measures (No 15), which was extended for this month and will be in effect until March 31, 2021.
Among these measures is the 22:30h (10 pm) to 04:00h (4 am) national curfew which remains intact. Restaurants and places of worship continue to operate at 40 per cent capacity. Gyms are to operate at 50 per cent capacity while sporting events are only permitted with approval from the Health Minister.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), as of Sunday, some 113,467,303 confirmed cases were reported globally along with 2,520,550 deaths.
The WHO also reported on Sunday that in the Region of the Americas, that is, Latin America and the Caribbean, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased to 50,426,060 while the death toll in the region has gone up to 1,205,245.