COVID-19 death toll now over 500 with 4 more deaths

…168 new cases recorded

The COVID-19 death toll in Guyana has surpassed 500 after four more males who tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) died.
These latest fatalities are a 43-year-old from Region One (Barima-Waini); a 55-year-old from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) and an 83-year-old from Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) – all of whom died on Monday. The other fatality is a 75-year-old male of Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) who died on Tuesday.
According to the Health Ministry, the four were admitted with COVID-19-like symptoms and died while receiving care at medical institutions. Samples taken at the time of their admission returned positive tests.
The total number of deaths from COVID-19 locally is now 503.
Since the beginning of July, 27 persons have succumbed to the life-threatening disease. The total number of deaths from the virus in the month of June was 78. May was the deadliest month with 99 COVID-19 fatalities after surpassing April’s 66 deaths.
Meanwhile, 168 persons have tested positive for COVID-19 from 1407 tests conducted over the previous 24 hours.
The total number of confirmed cases in Guyana is now 21,223, according to the Ministry’s updated COVID-19 dashboard.
However, only 1285 of these cases are currently active, with 11 patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and 1274 persons in isolation – 84 in institutional isolation and the other 1190 in home isolation. There are currently another five persons in institutional quarantine.
Some 19,435 persons have recovered from the life-threatening disease including 175 on Wednesday.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in Guyana last year, 204,999 persons have been tested so far for the novel coronavirus of which 10, 860 females and 10,363 males returned positive results.

Of the 168 new cases detected on Wednesday, two were from Region One, three from Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), 17 from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), 43 from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), one from Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), eight from East Berbice-Corentyne, one from Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), a whopping 91 from Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) and the remaining two from Upper Demerara-Berbice.
There were no new cases recorded in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) in the previous 24 hours, according to Wednesday’s COVID-19 dashboard.
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 across the country in order to achieve herd immunity.

Vaccinated
As of Tuesday, some 240, 392 persons have received their first dose of the vaccine, representing some 49.4 per cent of the adult population. Meanwhile, fully-immunised persons in the country as of Tuesday are some 122,050, that is, approximately 25.3 per cent of persons 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 wearing a mask in public, practising social distancing and frequent hand washing and sanitising. The measures also include a 22:30h (10:30 pm) to 04:00h (4 am) national curfew that is in effect until July 31, 2021.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), as of Wednesday, some 187,519,798 confirmed cases were reported globally along with 4,049,372 deaths.
Who also reported that in the Region of the Americas, that is, Latin America and the Caribbean, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased to 74,091,960 while the death toll has gone up to 1,945,985. (G8)