COVID-19 death toll now jumps to 44

…19 new cases detected in 24 hours

Guyana’s COVID-19 death toll increased to 44 after two new deaths were recorded on Thursday.
The Health Ministry announced that at midnight, a 67-year-old man of Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) and a 48-year-old male of Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) died while receiving care at the designated medical facility. Prior to this, the last death was reported on Tuesday.
In addition, the country has also confirmed that 19 new cases were recorded over the past 24 hours thus raising the figures to a startling 1401. Statistics from the Health Ministry’s dashboard showed 691 males and 710 females have been infected thus far.
There are 14 persons in the designated Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Meanwhile, 67 persons are in institutional isolation, 98 in institutional quarantine and 471 in home isolation. The total recovered cases stand at 779 – an increase of 61.
A further dissection of the figures showed that two new cases were detected in Region One (Barima-Waini), one in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), 14 in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) and two in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni).
The other regional figures remain the same with 14 in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam); eight in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice); 16 in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne); 23 in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni); 243 in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) and 75 in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice). To date, 8918 tests have been conducted.
As Guyana continues to respond to the pandemic with interventions to curtail the deadly virus, the Health Ministry earlier this week addressed concerns about testing for COVID-19. Within the last few weeks, it was noted that a plethora of concerns and even misinformation were circulating about the different testing methods and laboratory confirmation.
It assured members of the public that the test conducted by the National Public Health Reference Laboratory (NPHRL) is the molecular Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The Ministry has also noted that antibody rapid tests were available, which may indicate if someone was exposed to the virus. The Ministry has a process to register these new test kits and allow their use for screening purposes only. These rapid tests are not recommended to diagnose COVID-19.
With more cases being recorded, the Health Ministry has now begun utilising the billion-dollar Centre for Disease Control and Prevention located at Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown, with the first batch of COVID-19 patients shifting there on Tuesday.
Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony toured and inspected the facility on Sunday, and revealed that it currently had 197 beds, and would see 50 per cent usage during Phase One. This, he pointed out, will remove the burden from Georgetown Public Hospital thus allowing them to cater for more severe cases and non-COVID-19 patients.
During his inspection, Minister Anthony also identified electricity and water availability and proper sewage as hurdles that have delayed the transfer of patients to the new facility that was formerly the Ocean View International Hotel.
Nevertheless, the Health Ministry has been working assiduously with the Public Works and Housing and Water Ministries to fix the issues that have posed challenges to the facility becoming properly and fully equipped to accommodate COVID-19 patients.
The facility possesses an isolation unit and a section to house patients awaiting their COVID-19 test results.
Dr Anthony conveyed that other works were in progress to ensure the facility was suitably prepared in the event that more patients needed to be transferred from the GPHC.
Members of the public are asked to adhere to all the recommended COVID-19 control measures, including staying at home if possible, wearing a face mask when out in public, practising good hand hygiene and observing physical distancing.