Guyana’s COVID-19 death rate reaches 200

…51 new cases recorded

Almost one year after the coronavirus was detected here in Guyana, the country has recorded its 200th death from the dreaded virus.

The Health Ministry announced that, as at Thursday, another person who tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) died. The latest fatality is a 62-year-old female from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), who died while receiving care at a medical facility.
The fatality immediately preceding this one was reported as a 52-year-old female from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), who died on Tuesday, 2nd March.
From 1453 swabs that were taken for analysis on Thursday, 51 persons tested positive. Now the total confirmed cases are at 8699 – 4476 males and 4223 females. Some 8,074 have since recovered, leaving 426 active cases.
Seven patients are still seeking treatment in the Intensive Care Unit, with 36 in institutional isolation, 383 on home isolation, and 13 in institutional quarantine.

Guyana has tested 68,478 persons thus far.

New cases
There were seven new cases in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara); 38 in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica); two in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice); one in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), one in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), and two in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).

Highly susceptible
Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony has on Thursday advised the population to avoid areas where they are highly likely to contract the virus.
“If people want to avoid infections, then the thing is to avoid these crowded spaces and to avoid going to things that you know there is a high risk of you getting infected. This is common sense, and I do hope that with all the information we’re putting out there, that we get more people use their common sense and to avoid these places,” he advised.

He said there are still people within the population who believe they are invulnerable to the disease, simply because they don’t fall within the at-risk categories. However, there are cases in which younger people get a milder form of the disease, but end up with ‘long COVID’. This term is applicable to a person who continues to feel symptoms of the virus for many months.
This week, Dr Anthony also informed that private facilities can apply to the Health Ministry for certification to conduct the antigen test for COVID-19. An assessment would be done to determine applicants’ capacity.
Already, the Ministry has certified the Dr Balwant Singh Hospital, Woodlands Hospital, the St Joseph Mercy Hospital, the Davis Memorial Hospital and the Anamayah Memorial Hospital to conduct antigen tests. Minister Anthony has said a few other facilities are currently under consideration. He also said that increasing Government’s testing capacity countrywide has been a major focus of the Ministry, starting with the National Public Health Reference Laboratory.
“We have equipment at Lethem Hospital where, if you have the signs and symptoms or you want to be tested, we can test you there and within 60 minutes or so you can get back the result to determine whether you are positive or not,” he said.
Similar facilities have been set up at Mabaruma in Region One (Barima-Waini) and in regions Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) and Ten (Upper Demerara-Berbice). (G12)