The number of coronavirus cases in Guyana has seen a sharp jump in just one day, with four new persons testing positive. Alarmingly, the country also recorded its second death, also on Tuesday.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr Karen Boyle
This was confirmed by Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr Karen Boyle while providing a daily update on the situation in Guyana.
“We have moved from eight to 12 confirmed cases and one probable case. Our deaths have moved from one to two,” she said.
The data shows that all of the new cases originated from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), as the region leads the list with eight cases. Other than that, Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) and Region Six
Second COVID-19 victim Jermain Ifill
(East Berbice-Corentyne) have one case each.
Thus far, 52 persons were tested to which one proved inconclusive and; of the total confirmed cases, the number of imported is four with eight local transmissions.
“The number of persons in institutional quarantine is now 43. Of the 11 persons in isolation, one is hospitalised in the COVID-19 ICU. As of yesterday, calls to the COVID-19 hotline moved from 998 to 1065. These calls were received from seven of the 10 administrative regions,” Dr Boyle added.
2nd death
Meanwhile, the second person to have died is 38-year-old Jermaine Ifill, who was one of two persons placed in the Intensive Care Unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) after testing positive for COVID-19.
Ifill was an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), who worked at a health care centre in Kitty, Georgetown. About one week ago, he reportedly complained of feeling unwell and was tested. He died on Tuesday morning. His wife, a nurse at the GPHC, has since been quarantined. This newspaper was told that prior to being placed in the ICU, he was in the male wade at the medical facility.
Prior to his death, the medical professional had cautioned the hospital – where his wife is a professional nurse – to enable precautions to ensure people are kept safe. This was also directed at the Ministry via his social media account.
This second death comes almost three weeks after the country recorded its first death. On March 11, 52-year-old Ratna Baboolall died at the GPHC after being admitted one day prior. Baboolall, also referred to as patient zero, had returned to Guyana from New York. Upon testing her relatives, four of them also tested positive for the deadly virus and were subsequently placed in isolation.
Dr Boyle, in her update, said that testing will continue as long as persons manifest symptoms in correspondence with the World Health Organisation. Any person with acute respiratory illness, fever and at least one sign or symptom of respiratory disease such as a cough or shortness of breath will be tested.
The criterion also extends to persons with travel history to a COVID-19 infected country during the 14 days prior to the onset of signs and symptoms, or those who came into contact with a COVID-19 infected person or close contact with a confirmed case.
Projection
Just Monday, caretaker Public Health Minister, Volda Lawrence indicated that Guyana is projected to have 1400 confirmed coronavirus cases, where about five per cent are expected to be critical.
Additionally, 81 per cent of the cases are expected to be moderate and 14 per cent severe.
These figures were derived after using a model from the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO). On the Ministry’s end, preparations are being made for 100 persons requiring ICU, 300 isolation beds across the country and 730 beds for institutional quarantine.
While it is unclear when these mechanisms would be ready, the number of cases has been increasing at a faster rate within the last few days.
Director of the Disease Control Unit, Dr Nadia Liu has already stated that only persons who present symptoms are being tested, since timing can influence the accuracy of the results.
To date, the number of globally confirmed cases in 210 countries and territories stands at an alarming 693,224.
If anyone is experiencing symptoms of the coronavirus, they are asked to call the hotline on 227-4986 ext 215 or 624-3067 and a team would be sent to their location.
