With three new cases of COVID-19 as of Thursday, Guyana’s overall total took another climb to 401 positive cases recorded.
Chief Medical Officer, Dr Shamdeo Persaud
This was announced by Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr Shamdeo Persaud during the daily update, where he noted that the country was still struggling with 196 active cases.
Within the course of 24 hours, health officials conducted 78 tests and of the three cases confirmed, two originated in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) and one in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica).
Since the first case was detected, a total of 5890 tests were done on 4641 persons. Recent statistics show that COVID-19 deaths still stand at 20 and 185 persons have recovered.
One hundred and forty-three of the 196 active cases are in institutional isolation, 50 are in institutional quarantine and three are in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
With two national holidays – Eid-Ul-Adha and Emancipation Day – slated for this Friday and Saturday, the CMO urged citizens to exercise caution during their celebrations to ensure that they were not at risk. This means that all are asked to maintain social distancing, and no more than 10 individuals should congregate at once.
“The practice of social distancing must be prioritised and strictly adhered to; no more than 10 persons congregating with visible six-feet demarcations and more importantly, alternative arrangements must be put in place regarding the distribution of meat to the needy,” he said.
Dr Persaud shared that Guyana could still make strides to flatten its curve, even as it continued to witness an upward trend of confirmed cases. For this to happen, Guyanese must be aware of the active hotspots – Regions Seven and Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) and also, to the fact that there are great risks in movement through the border.
“I am convinced that together we can flatten the curve with more effort from all of us; in the city, we need to make a behavioural change and respect the health guidelines; in our hotspots – Regions Seven and Nine – which remain high-risk areas, you need to curtail your cross-border movement where exposure to the disease is uncontrollably high, and help to halt the imported cases; in our mining communities, the influx of migrants continues to contribute to the high incidence of positive cases through their constant movement in and out of the communities,” the CMO cautioned.
In neighbouring Brazil, on Thursday, some 23, 284 new cases and 614 deaths were recorded within the previous 24 hours.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the global statistics are 16,558,289 cases with 656,093 deaths; in the Region of the Americas, the total number of cases is now 8,840,524 with 342, 635 deaths.
Curfew extended
The National COVID-19 Task Force also made a decision to extend the ongoing curfew and guidelines enforced, given that it was about to end on July 31.
As such, the curfew from 20:00h to 06:00h (8pm to 6am) will continue until August 15, unless extended or amended by notice through the Public Health Minister after an assessment of the prevailing health conditions.
This is only applicable to Regions Five (Mahaica-Berbice) and Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) on Saturdays and Sundays; while mining areas and coordinates listed in the gazetted document will follow the 18:00h to 06:00h (6pm to 6am) curfew timings.
Persons are still not allowed to travel into or out of these areas without authorisation from the Ministry, and it was decided that “all mining operations shall cease” – amid several calls from organisations and concerned stakeholders about the serious implications and risks.
Further, the Cheddi Jagan and Eugene F Correia International Airports shall remain closed to all international flights except for outgoing, cargo, medevacs, and special authorised flights and technical stops for fuel only.
Meanwhile, places of religious worship are to be opened, but should not host more than 25 persons. All other conditions related to public service, transportation, dining among others remain the same as was previously outlined.
