Home News COVID-19 guidelines: “Look at your risks and decide” – Health Minister calls...
…1 new case, 4 in ICU
Underscoring that individuals now have an independent responsibility to protect themselves from the coronavirus, Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony said a level of caution should be exercised by Guyanese.
In the COVID update on Monday, he identified that people have an independence to determine how they protect themselves, and it is not a case of the country dropping its guidelines.
“I wouldn’t say that the guidelines have been dropped but people now have more independence in terms of determining what they do. That independence is: it’s now up to you whether you want to wear a mask or not so it’s optional but you have to look at your risks and decide whether you want to take precautions. There is an individual responsibility,” Dr Anthony stated.
Workplaces and business entities can also decide on the respective rules governing their space to keep people safe. With 140 active cases still present in the country, he cautioned that infection is still possible
“We still have active cases in Guyana. It’s going down for now but those persons can still infect others. We still have to be cautious because not everybody has been vaccinated. Not everybody would be protected. So, we need to be cautious. There is still a lot of unvaccinated people out there.”
Adult vaccination stands at 437,152 first doses or 85.2 per cent while second doses stand at 384,899 or 65.3 per cent. In the adolescent category, 34,176 first doses and 24,813 second doses have been administered, translating to 46.9 per cent and 34 per cent respectively.
Commenting on the progression of the latter, the Health Minister expressed, “That has been stuck for a while.”
Meanwhile, booster doses account for 56,174 jabs, which he also said is a “relatively small amount of people”. If persons want to remain protected, they were asked to get the booster doses. A majority of severe hospitalizsed cases have been unvaccinated against the virus.
COVID-19 cases
The daily detection of positive COVID-19 cases has shown only one infection, with deaths remaining at 1226. Confirmed cases have reached 63,195.
A total of four patients are in the Intensive Care Unit, 12 institutional isolation, 128 in home isolation and eight in institutional quarantine. Out of the 29,099 males and 34,096 females that contracted the virus, 61,829 have recovered.
Some 559,944 COVID-19 tests have been administered since the virus was detected here.
If anyone is displaying any of the symptoms associated with COVID-19 or needs any additional information, they are asked to contact the COVID-19 Hotline 231-1166, 226-7480 or 624-6674 immediately or visit www.health.gov.gy.
Globally, over 469 million people have tested positive for the virus and six million have died. In the Americas, more than 149 million confirmed cases have been reported with over 2.67 million deaths. (G12)
