Govt developing strong surveillance for COVID and beyond – Health Minister

…cases rising again

Cases of the coronavirus are rising again, as are hospitalisations in Guyana, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony has warned on Thursday.
For some weeks, the country was reporting minimal infections daily from the novel coronavirus. However, the Health Minister has said there has been a different trend in the statistics, and this is a reminder that Guyana has not yet exited the pandemic, and persons should continue wearing their masks.
“We are seeing an increase in cases and increase (in hospitalisations), so people ought to be very careful, and when possible, they should use their masks…,” Dr Frank Anthony has informed. “We’re still in a current pandemic, and we have to be mindful and take precautions. The virus that causes COVID-19 has many variants and subvariants. It’s continuously evolving, and based on the variants, we will see different types of clinical presentations.”
On Thursday, November 17, some 21 new cases of the novel coronavirus were reported by the Health Ministry, with 1281 reported deaths to date. There are now 71,520 confirmed cases in Guyana; 32,786 of which are males and 38,734 are females. Across the country, 68 active cases are being tracked. Two persons are seeking treatment in the intensive care unit, two are in institutional isolation, and 62 are in home isolation.
Meanwhile, 70,173 recoveries have been counted from the start of the pandemic to this week, and 704,440 tests have been processed.

Surveillance
At the Health Ministry, work is ongoing to develop a strong surveillance network that can be used for COVID-19 and beyond. This is all in preparation for future pandemics and disasters.
“We have strengthened surveillance, so we would be able to detect cases across the country if whatever the pandemic would be, we have a stronger system of surveillance. We have also formed a unit within the Ministry that can do rapid response, so this Unit is made up of epidemiologists, public health specialists, and we also have infectious diseases specialists,” Dr Anthony outlined. Should any situation arise, the team can be dispatched to examine symptoms, epidemiology, and make conclusions on how to respond.
“We are connected to the international health regulatory system. If we detect anything new, we are obligated to report it; and again, if there is anything around the world, that is also reported to us,” Dr Anthony has informed.
The Health Ministry has been working with several multilateral institutions in relation to pandemic preparedness, including having discussions with PAHO/WHO to strengthen existing systems. (G12)