Guyana has recorded its 149th COVID-19 related death after a 53-year-old female from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) succumbed while receiving treatment at one of the medical facilities. Her death has now brought the total to 23 for the month thus far.
The recent death was that of 69-year-old Rudolph Williams, the Deputy Mayor of Anna Regina, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam). He passed away at the Georgetown Public Hospital on Tuesday afternoon in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Following his death, his immediate family members have been placed in quarantine.
Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony
The Ministry has since expressed condolences to the families of the two deceased and will make every effort to provide all the necessary support during this difficult time to render any assistance needed.
However, the Health Ministry has reported that 47 new cases were detected in a 24-hour period. This now takes the total number of infected cases to 5236.
The 47 new cases that were detected on Wednesday were from the 364 tests that were conducted. The new cases were recorded in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam); Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara); Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica); Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) and Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
As at Wednesday, the total number of persons in ICU has been increased by one, while 108 are in institutional isolation, and 731 in home isolation. To date, 4,242 persons have recovered, with a total of 28,542 tests being done thus far since March.
However, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony is again appealing to citizens and members of the business community to take heed to the COVID-19 guidelines. During Tuesday’s COVID-19 Update, Minister Anthony encouraged citizens to be responsible and to join the Government’s efforts to stop the spread of the disease in the country.
The Minister has said local businesses play a crucial role in helping to manage public compliance. “We want to urge people and businesses to put measures in place to help us with the reduction of these cases, and those measures would include: one, to ensure that people coming to your business wear a mask; that people coming into your business sanitise their hands; and that you try to have social distancing within your business.”
Minister Anthony said some businesses have been doing a fantastic job with the measures, and reiterated his appeal for others to come onboard.
“We want more people to comply, because if all of us, if all the business owners put these measures in place, then we are helping to prevent the disease from transmitting. We don’t know who are the carriers of this infection, who might be asymptomatic; so, if people are going to be in crowded areas, there is that possibility of being exposed. So, again, we want businesses to help us,” Dr Anthony has said.
Minister Anthony has said the National COVID-19 Task Force implemented its education campaign, COVI-Curb, to ensure people are familiar with the COVID-19 guidelines.
He added that the task force would rather not go the route of identifying people and taking them to court for not wearing masks or for breaching the curfew. The Minister acknowledged the local Christmas traditions, but noted that Guyana is not the only country dealing with the disease. He is again urging everyone to do their part in the fight against COVID-19.
