– 642 new infections recorded in 24h
The Health Ministry on Sunday reported that four more persons who tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) have died, thus bringing the total number of deaths in Guyana from the pandemic to 1,134. These latest fatalities are: a 46-year-old female from Region Three (Essequibo Islands–West Demerara), who was fully vaccinated; she died last Thursday. A 67-year-old male also from Region Three, who died on Sunday; a 68-year-old male also from Region Three, who was fully vaccinated and died on Friday last; and an 88-year-old female from Region 10 (Upper Demerara – Berbice), who was unvaccinated and died on Sunday. According to the Ministry of Health, the vaccination status of the 67-year-old man is unknown. 
Over the past week, 39 persons have succumbed to the deadly virus, thus taking the COVID-19 death toll for this month to 79. However, new statistics released by the Ministry on Sunday showed that 642 new infections were detected within a 24-hour period, which now takes the confirmed cases in Guyana up to 57,227.
Of this number, however, only 13,774 are currently active cases. These include 19 patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the remaining 13,755 persons who are in isolation; that is: 175 in institutional isolation and the remaining 13,580 in home isolation.
There are another 14 persons who are in institutional quarantine, according to the Dashboard.
Additionally, some 42,319 persons have to date recovered from the life-threatening disease – 107 more recoveries than the figure reported the previous day.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country, approximately 493,710 persons have been tested so far; and of this number, some 26,485 males and 30,742 females were found to be positive.
Of the 642 new cases reported on Sunday, 40 were from Region One (Barima-Waini); 31 from Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam); 83 from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara); a whopping 251 from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica); 66 from Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice); 112 from Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne); 22 from Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni); two from Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) and the remaining 78 from Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice). No new cases were recorded in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) within the 24-hour period.
Health authorities have attributed the rapid rise in COVID-19 cases over the past several weeks to the Omicron variant, which, though not deadly, is highly transmissible. As such, persons are being urged to get vaccinated, and those who are qualified to get their booster shots are urged to do so in order to add a layer of protection against the virus.
So far, over 419,000 adults, or 81.9 per cent, have taken a first dose, while more than 307,000, or 59.9 per cent of persons 18 and over, are fully immunised.
For children between the ages of 12 and 17, some 22,600, or 31 per cent, are completely vaccinated. Meanwhile, over 32,000 persons have taken their booster dose. As more people continue to get vaccinated, authorities are urging the public to continue observing all COVID-19 preventative measures, particularly masking in public, practising social distancing, and frequent hand washing and sanitizing – which are more significant now with the rapidly-spreading Omicron variant. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), recent figures show some 340,543,962 confirmed cases were reported globally, along with 5,570,163 deaths.
Who also reported that in the Region of the Americas, that is: Latin America and the Caribbean, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased to 124,883,979, while the death toll in the region has gone up to 2,460,897.
As it relates to vaccination against COVID-19, a total of 9,571,502,663 doses have been administered worldwide.
