COVID-19 death toll climbs to 107

– 31 new cases recorded in 24 hours

As of Thursday, the COVID-19 death toll moved to 107 after another person succumbed to the life-threatening disease. This was accompanied by 31 new cases that were recorded over the past 24 hours.
The latest death is a 46-year-old female Chinese national from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica). She died while receiving care at a medical facility.
“The MoH [Ministry of Health] expresses sincerest condolences to the family of the deceased and will make every effort to provide all the necessary support during this difficult time, to render any assistance needed,” the Ministry stated.
The total number of cases has now spiked to 3620, after the new cases were confirmed on Thursday. There are still 16 patients in the specialised Intensive Care Unit (ICU). One hundred and fifteen persons remain in institutional isolation, 860 in home isolation, and 57 persons in institutional quarantine.
Total recoveries stand at 2522 after 35 persons recovered in one day.
A regional breakdown showed that two new cases were detected in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam); four in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara); 18 in Region Four; two in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni); two in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni), and five in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo).
The figures remained the same in Regions One (Barima-Waini); Five (Mahaica-Berbice); Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) and 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) at 588, 24, 55, and 125 respectively.
Meanwhile, Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony has announced that COVID-19 testing at the National Public Health Reference Laboratory can now be completed within 45 minutes, a significant reduction from the previous hours- long method.
During the COVID-19 update, he said more samples were being processed in a shorter time, through a donation of a $7.2 million automated extractor by the People’s Republic of China. Government has also purchased another extractor, which will be delivered shortly.
“I can tell you that we are now able to extract 96 samples within 45 minutes. Our processing time has gone up tremendously ,so we will be able to do more samples in the timeframe than we used to,” the Minister said.
As of October 1, the COVID-19 emergency measures (No 10) were published, outlining a change in the countrywide curfew to 21:00h to 04:00h (9 pm to 4 am) to allow certain businesses to operate for a longer period. For example, gas stations, salons and supermarkets can now close at 20:00h.
Government has reiterated that this was not an opportunity for persons to party or socialise, but simply to enable citizens to conduct their transactions. Farmers and fishermen are now benefiting from increased timing to ply their trade. Businesses that flout the measures will be given a warning and on the second violation, they will be asked to close their doors indefinitely.
Gyms and bars are among the services to remain closed. Meanwhile, there are special measures for Regions Seven and Nine, inclusive of restricted travel. The Ministry explained that these new measures were made following a rapid assessment of the COVID-19 situation in the country.