COVID death toll surpasses 600 after 4 more die

– 134 new infections detected in 1 day

The Health Ministry on Tuesday reported that four more persons who tested positive for the novel coronavirus have died, thereby taking the country’s death toll over the 600 mark.
In the month of August, 55 individuals have succumbed, with a total of 601 since the first death in March 2020.
The latest deaths are two women: a 93-year-old from Region Three and an 80-year-old from Region Four. They died on August 22 while an 83-year-old from Region 10 died on August 20 and a 52-year-old from Region Four died on August 22.
However, new statistics provided by the Ministry showed that 134 new cases were detected within the course of one day –raising the total confirmed positives to 24,506.
There are 22 patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), 96 in institutional isolation, 1325 in home isolation and seven in institutional quarantine. Since the pandemic started, 256,764 individuals were tested – of which 11,873 males and 12,633 females were positive.
A regional breakdown of new cases showed that two persons have tested positive from Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), 25 in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara); 77 in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica); five in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice); 11 in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne); five in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni); one in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni); four in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) and four in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
No new cases were detected in Region One (Barima-Waini).
Meanwhile, second doses of the Sputnik V jabs are now available in limited quantities across the regions. According to Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony, while authorities are aware of the current “anxiety” in accessing the last jab, vaccines will arrive every week and sent to the various immunisation centres immediately.
“We have an allocation mechanism that we distribute to the different regions so that persons in those regions can have access to the vaccine. We have just received 5000 doses and we started this morning (Tuesday) to give those doses out and I hope people can bear with us. I understand the anxiety but as soon as we get these vaccines, we’re making them available to people.”
Even with the Sputnik V second component available, he noted that persons who received their AstraZeneca and Sinopharm jabs are yet to return for their last shot. A completely immunised person would have superior protection against the virus as opposed to one shot.
“We also have a lot of persons who would have received their first dose of AstraZeneca or Sinopharm and they need to get their second dose. Many of those persons are getting due and we want to encourage them to make sure they come back and get their second dose. You’re not going to get fully protected unless you get both doses.”
He noted that while the single-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccines would mostly be used for those remote communities, it will be available for the public “in a very limited way”. With an efficacy of 66.3 per cent, the Minister noted that this varies depending on the variant in question.
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 us at www.health.gov.gy
Persons with comorbidities have been asked to continue taking their respective medications or treatment to control their condition. The preventative measures and guidelines to protect against the virus must be adhered to since this category of person is at a greater risk if they contract COVID-19.