Home News Guyana has 927 active COVID-19 cases
Thirty-one new COVID-19 cases were reported on Tuesday. At present, there are 927 active cases in Guyana. In total, 3796 positive cases have been recorded since the virus was detected in Guyana in March.
In its daily dashboard, the Health Ministry stated that the number of deaths remained at 114. As it stands, some 2004 males contracted the virus when compared to 1792 females.
There are 14 persons in the Intensive Care Unit along with 67 persons in institutional isolation, 805 in home isolation and 41 in institutional quarantine. After 47 recoveries were confirmed, the total recovered cases moved to 2796.
A breakdown showed that 18 new cases were detected in Region One (Barima-Waini), one in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), four in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), six in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), one in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and one in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo).
Other regions did not witness an increase in cases – which stood at 61 in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), 25 in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), 60 in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne and 129 in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
On Monday, three more COVID-19 deaths were recorded, which raised the death toll to 114 – 32 of which were for the month of October. All three persons were females from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica). One was 74 years of age while the other two were 64.
Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony on Tuesday noted that the country recently acquired approximately 35 ventilators through a grant from the Government of India and the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO). A number of them have been allotted to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation to cater for each intensive care bed.
Some were reserved for the Infectious Disease Hospital on the East Coast of Demerara, where gas lines are being installed. The Minister in his update stated that a few components were ordered to complete this system.
“The contractor is awaiting some special parts that they have already ordered and we’re hopeful that sometime during this week, they’ll receive those special pieces of equipment so that we can get that system in place. In anticipating that we’ll have that up and running, we have already allocated a number of ventilators to that facility,” Dr Anthony insisted.
He said their plan is to build capacity at the regional level, to which these resources were allocated. While this equipment was being delivered, doctors were being trained on how to use them properly.
“I think capacity at the regional level will improve with these ventilators being there so if anybody needs urgent attention, they will have ventilators in place to provide that respiratory support. If that patient needs to be evacuated to the Georgetown Public Hospital, then we have a process in place where we can evacuate that patient. I think we have worked out those arrangements and we’ll put them to use as the incidents occurred,” he expressed.
It was announced that 12 CARPHA (Caribbean Public Health Agency) Member States have signed agreements with Gavi – the Vaccine Alliance – namely Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos to access vaccines when it becomes available. CARPHA is assisting seven of these member states with the down payment.
Guyana is among a list of countries, including Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Saint Lucia, as well as St Vincent and the Grenadines that automatically qualify to access the Vaccine Alliance.
Dr Anthony during Monday’s update said Guyana is one of 10 countries to benefit under a different scheme, whereby Gavi would be handling the initial costs. (G12)