…112 new cases recorded
Two males and one female who tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) have died. 
The woman, 75, was from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) along with one of the males, who was 54 years old. The other fatality was a 62-year-old male from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica).
According to the Health Ministry, these patients were admitted with COVID-19 like symptoms but died while receiving care at medical institutions. Samples were taken at the time of admission and the tests subsequently returned positive.
With these three latest fatalities, the total number of deaths from the pandemic has increased to 594. The death toll for the month of August is now 48.
Meanwhile, another 112 persons have contracted the deadly virus in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 24,336.
The Ministry’s updated COVID-19 dashboard on Sunday showed that 16 patients are in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU), while 1362 persons are in isolation, that is, 102 in institutional isolation and the other 1260 in home isolation.
This takes the current active cases in Guyana to 1378. Additionally, there are also five persons in institutional quarantine. 
So far, some 22,364 persons have recovered from the life-threatening disease – 46 more recoveries were recorded in the last 24 hours.
Meanwhile, a total of 254,453 persons have been tested for the novel coronavirus since the outbreak of the pandemic here last year. Of this, 11,811 males and 12,525 females were found to be positive.
Of the 112 new COVID cases recorded on Sunday, 12 were detected in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), 15 in the Essequibo Islands-West Demerara region, a whopping 59 cases in the Demerara-Mahaica region, three in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), 21 cases in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) and the remaining two cases in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
There were no new cases recorded in Regions One (Barima-Waini), Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) in the last 24 hours.
In order to curb the rising number of cases in the country, the Guyana Government launched its COVID-19 vaccination exercise back in February and is aggressively rolling it out in the various regions in order to achieve herd immunity.
According to recent figures, more than 58 per cent of the adult population has received their first dose of the vaccine, which is approximately over 298,000 persons. Meanwhile, fully immunised persons in the country are in excess of 152,000, representing just over 29 per cent of the population who are 18 years and older.
Persons are encouraged to get immunised since the COVID-19 vaccine gives full protection against death. In fact, Health authorities have disclosed that no one who is fully vaccinated with both doses of the COVID-19 vaccines have been hospitalised or died from the virus.
Nevertheless, as more people continue to get vaccinated, authorities are urging the public to continue observing all COVID-19 preventative measures, particularly masking in public, social distancing and frequent hand washing and sanitising. The measures also include vaccination requirements to access certain social locations such as restaurants and cinemas as well as some Government services.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), as of Sunday, some 209,876,613 confirmed cases were reported globally along with 4,400,284 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 81,226,913 while the death toll in the region has gone up to 2,065,166. (G8)
