Guyana records 31 new COVID-19 cases

Guyana recorded 31 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday which now takes the country’s overall total to 1884.
The statistics were published on the Health Ministry’s daily dashboard, showing that fatalities still stand at 56. The last death was reported on Sunday morning.
The data presented a gender breakdown of 929 males and 955 females being infected thus far. The number of persons in the designated Intensive Care Unit is 16 after one patient was transferred.
There are 510 individuals in home isolation while some 37 persons are in institutional isolation and 94 in institutional quarantine. From the confirmed cases, 1265 persons have recovered – an increase of 50.
A regional breakdown of the new cases showed that three were detected in Region One (Barima-Waini), one in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), three in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), 11 in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), three in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), one in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni), four in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) and three in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
The other regional figures remain the same with 12 in Region Five and 244 in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni).
Guyana’s COVID-19 death toll had increased to 56 following the death of an elderly woman on Sunday morning. This was accompanied by 41 new cases.
This latest COVID-19 fatality announced by the Ministry of Health was an 83-year-old woman from Region Four, who died while receiving care at the designated Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
According to the Ministry, the test sample was collected from the elderly woman at the time of her admission and the results returned positive for COVID-19 subsequently. Her death comes on the heels of the Ministry reporting three new COVID deaths since Friday.
With the number of deaths continuing to rapidly rise, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony has announced through the Department of Public Information that plans are on stream to purchase the drug Remdesivir to treat patients who have fallen critically-ill as a result of the novel coronavirus.
Remdesivir is an anti-viral drug administered by intravenous (IV) therapy to COVID-19 patients suffering from severe symptoms. It is known as a nucleoside analogue, which means that it mimics a component of viral ribonucleic acid (RNA) that the virus needs to replicate itself
The Minister explained that the drug is being made available to Guyana at a cheaper cost and has already been used to treat hospitalised and critically ill COVID-19 patients. Guyana had initially received 240 doses of the drug.