COVID-19 death toll climbs to 267 as 4 more die

– 115 new cases recorded

Guyana’s COVID-19 death toll has jumped to a whopping 267 after four more persons succumbed to the virus on Friday. For the month of April, 33 deaths have been reported.
The latest fatalities are an 81-year-old female from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), an 81-year-old female from Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne); and two men from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), aged 46 and 64.
They all died while receiving care at a medical facility.
Prior to this, a 94-year-old male from Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) died on Wednesday while receiving care at a medical facility. Last week, 18 persons succumbed to the virus.
Meanwhile, new statistics released by the Health Ministry on Friday revealed that 115 persons tested positive for the novel coronavirus within one day, thus bringing the total number of positive cases to 11,642.
The Ministry stated that 13 persons remain in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU); 77 in institutional isolation, 1224 in home isolation and 12 in institutional quarantine.
To date, some 10,015 persons have recovered from the life-threatening virus in Guyana – an increase of 46 in one day. Guyana has tested 105,519 persons; whereas 5900 males and 5742 females were positive.
Regional cases point to four new positives in Region One (Barima-Waini); 26 in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara); a staggering 69 in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), three in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), six in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) and seven in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
Consequently, cases in Regions Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) remain at 283, 988, 247 and 461 respectively.
Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony indicated during the latest update that there are adequate isolation facilities in all regions if persons cannot quarantine at home.
“In every region, we have institutional quarantine arrangements and we have maintained them. They are being used less frequently because people have opted to stay home but we still have them in every region and if there is a necessity, we can keep people in these institutions.”
Persons are reminded of the Ramadan measures, whereby mosques can open for the daily prayer sessions but only at 40 per cent capacity. Where available, outdoor spaces should be utilised along with adequate social distancing.
Persons are asked to sanitise, wear a mask and ensure four feet distancing throughout prayer services. A suggestion was made for persons to walk with their prayer mats. The Task Force added that the elderly, pregnant women, the sick and children under the age of 11 should not attend masjid during Ramadan.
Personal iftar arrangements are allowed as long as there is adequate spacing. However, iftars on a congregational level is prohibited. Iftar is the first meal in the evening after fasting for the entire day. Meanwhile, the Esha and Taraaweeh prayers should be completed by 21:30h.
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 persons are experiencing symptoms or have been in contact with a positive person, they are asked to contact the COVID-19 Hotline 231-1166, 226-7480 or 624-6674 immediately or visit www.health.gov.gy.