– 7th death recorded, identified as Linden resident
Confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus have climbed by two more, resulting in a total of 65 cases – two more in two days.
Former Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence
The Public Health Ministry on Sunday confirmed that 322 persons were tested for COVID-19 with 65 carrying the deadly virus. From the positive cases, four (4) were placed in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), 49 in institutional isolation and 21 in institutional quarantine. The number of recovered cases remain at 9.
One day before the new figures were released, a seventh person lost his life while battling the virus. Sydney Trellis, a 49-year-old man from the Wismar Housing Scheme, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), had reportedly shown up at the Linden Hospital Complex with the symptoms before being transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, where his condition was listed as critical.
On Saturday night, however, former Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence announced his death in an update on the pandemic.
The visually impaired man was the first person to contract the virus in Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice). He recently accommodated several guests from overseas. It is suspected that one of the visitors infected him.
Last week, the Region 10 administration started a contact tracing exercise after it was revealed that both of its COVID-19 patients were infected by someone they both knew and had contact with.
In a statement, Regional Health Officer (RHO), Dr Pansy Armstrong disclosed that after investigations of the two COVID-19 cases were completed, they realised that “both victims would have gotten infected by a known associate”.
Guyana’s last coronavirus death was recorded on April 7, when former army Colonel, John Percy Leon Lewis, died. The 77-year-old man was first admitted at a private hospital and after showing suspected signs of the deadly virus, he was referred to the GPHC and admitted in the dedicated ICU where he succumbed.
The country’s first COVID-19 case was recorded on March 11 following the death of a 52-year-old woman, who died days after returning from New York. She is considered an imported case and is listed as ‘patient zero’. Three of her relatives, who later tested positive, have since recovered.
Only Friday, Country Representative of the Pan America Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO), Dr William Adu-Krow warned Guyana against lifting the emergency measures too soon, noting that it could result in an exponential spike in the number of cases here.
In fact, he noted that if the measures are lifted as scheduled, then by mid-May there could be as much as 5000 cases in the country.
Last month, PAHO/WHO had projected that Guyana would record some 20,000 COVID-19 cases. But the country representative explained that this projection was in the event that the country did nothing to curb the spread.
He noted that the implementation of the curfews and restrictions has saved some 240 persons from contracting the virus and at least 25 deaths were prevented. It was projected that by April 15, there would have been 295 cases recorded.
Globally, there are 2,160,207 cases with some 146,088 deaths. In the region of the Americas, there are 784,272 cases with 35,742 deaths reported.
