Guyana records 67th COVID-19 death; 133 new cases in 24h

The Health Ministry on Monday announced that two other persons have died from COVID-19, bringing the total to 67 thus far.
The latest deaths are a 67-year-old man of Region One (Barima-Waini), who died while receiving care at the specialised medical facility and a 57-year-old woman, also of Region One.
The samples were collected from the patients at the time of admission and tested positive for COVID-19 subsequently.
Officials of the Ministry have since contacted all relatives and persons who may have been exposed to the now dead persons to facilitate contact tracing.
Meanwhile, a whopping 133 new cases were recorded in just 24 hours, thus raising the total number of persons infected to 2402. There are 16 persons in the Intensive Care Unit, 860 on home isolation and 60 in institutional quarantine. Thus far, 1359 persons have recovered.
The updated dashboard showed that 1251 men and 1151 women were infected from the virus thus far.
The Ministry’s regional breakdown showed that 24 new cases were detected in Region One (Barima-Waini), one in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), 19 in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), 80 in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), two in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), four in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), one in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and two in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
There were no increases in Regions Five (Mahaica-Berbice) and Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) with positives remaining at 13 and 340 respectively.
On Sunday, a 51-year-old man from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) died while receiving care at the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
On Friday, a 71-year-old man from Region One (Barima-Waini) and a 63-year-old man from Region Four also succumbed to the deadly virus. Guyana would have recorded 10 deaths from the novel coronavirus over the past week.
Since taking office, the PPP/C Government has embarked on a massive testing drive to ensure that all positive 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 increase 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.