Guyana records 65th COVID-19 death, 101 new cases

The Health Ministry has announced that another person has died from the novel coronavirus, bringing the country’s COVID-19 death toll to 65.
In a statement on Sunday, the Ministry said: “as of 15:00hrs on September 20, 2020, one other person who tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has died.”
The latest fatality is a 51-year-old man from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), who died while receiving care at the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
Officials of the Ministry have since contacted all relatives and persons to facilitate contact tracing and rapid assistance to everyone who may have been exposed to the now-dead person.
The last COVID-related deaths were reported by the Health Ministry on Friday. The victims were a 71-year-old man from Region One (Barima-Waini) and a 63-year-old man from Region Four.
Guyana would have recorded nine deaths from the novel coronavirus over the past week. The week began with the COVID death toll at 56.
Meanwhile, the updated COVID-19 dashboard for Sunday shows that Guyana has recorded a whopping 101 new COVID-19 cases.
This now brings the country’s total number of coronavirus cases now up to 2269 – 1155 males and 1114 females.
Of the total number of cases, however, only 866 are active. This includes 16 persons in the COVID-19 ICU and the remaining 850 in isolation, that is, 83 in institutional isolation and other 767 in home isolation.
Meanwhile, there are 55 persons in institutional quarantine.
Additionally, some 1339 persons have recovered from the life-threatening disease here.
To date, Guyana has tested a total of 12,092 persons for the novel coronavirus.
A breakdown of the 101 new cases recorded on Sunday shows that six were detected in the Barima-Waini Region, two in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), 82 cases in the Demerara-Mahaica Region and one new case in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni).
The other regional figures remain the same, with 27 in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), 13 in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), 31 in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), 273 cases in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), 340 in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) and 92 cases in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice).
Since taking office, the PPP/C Government has embarked on a massive testing drive to ensure that all positives cases, especially asymptomatic cases, are detected.
Nevertheless, the Public Health Ministry continues to urge all Guyanese to observe the protocols of the COVID-19 Emergency Measures (No 9) which are in effect until September 30, 2020. This order emphasises, among other things, the need for correct and consistent use of face masks when leaving home; the importance of maintaining the six feet physical distance from others, and the need for good hand hygiene to help reduce the spread of COVID-19.
Persons displaying any of the symptoms associated with COVID-19, or in need of any additional information are asked to contact the COVID-19 Hotline on 231-1166, 226-7480 or 624-6674 immediately or visit www.health.gov.gy
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there are over 15.4 million coronavirus cases in the region of the Americans with more than 527,800 deaths.
The WHO said on Sunday that an additional 114,038 cases and 2536 deaths were reported in the past 24 hours, representing a 0.74 per cent relative increase in cases and a 0.48 per cent relative increase in deaths, compared to the previous day.
Jamaica (4.8 per cent), Bahamas (4.3 per cent), and Trinidad and Tobago (3.4 per cent) reported the highest relative increases in cases compared to the previous day.
Globally, there have been 30,675,675 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 954,417 deaths, reported to WHO.