Over 500 children in Guyana tested positive for COVID-19 – Dr Anthony

…as 43 new cases recorded

Of the more than 6000 COVID-19 cases which have been recorded in Guyana to date, some 537 have been children, according to Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony.

The Minister made this disclosure during his daily update on the COVID-19 situation in the country on Wednesday.
He explained that since they started testing in the country, a total of 114 children between the ages of 0 and five tested positive.
Additionally, 176 children between the ages of five and nine, and another 247 children between the ages of 10 and 14 tested positive.
“We haven’t had any serious ailments with children. Most of them were asymptomatic and they were monitored at home and basically, they have recovered,” Dr Anthony explained.
According to the Minister, these asymptomatic children were only detected owing to contact tracing after positive cases were recorded.
“When you go into a household, there might be children in that household and we would test everybody in the household if we believe that they would’ve been exposed to someone who’s positive… and because we’ve been doing that, we have detected a number of children who have come back positive,” he noted.
With Guyana currently preparing for mass immunisation with the COVID-19 vaccine, the Health Minister was asked about plans for the vaccination of children in the country. However, he pointed out that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines – which have been approved for emergency usage in other countries – cannot be used to immunise children.
He explained that clinical trials were underway to develop a vaccine for children. Pfizer has already started clinical trials for children between the ages of 12 and 15, and in two months’ time, trials will commence for the 12 to 5 age group.
“Those trials – the first one between 15 to 12 – that one has started, but it’s not completed and because there isn’t any data, that is why it is not allowed for children to be vaccinated at this time. The 12 to 5 age group, that trial is yet to be started. I think that trial will start sometime in April. So, as it is right now, there is no vaccine that is available for the immunisation of children,” Minister Anthony stated.

New cases
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry reported on Wednesday that 43 new cases were detected.
According to the Ministry’s updated COVID-19 dashboard, the total number of COVID-19 cases recorded in the country is 6696 – 3439 males and 3257 females. However, of these, only 463 are active cases. These comprise four patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and 459 persons in isolation – 57 in institutional isolation and 402 in home isolation.
In addition, there are 30 persons in institutional quarantine.
The COVID-19 death toll remains the same at 170. The last coronavirus fatality was recorded on Sunday when a 65-year-old male from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) died while receiving care at a medical facility.
Further, the number of persons who have recovered from the life-threatening disease thus far has increased to 6063 – 16 more recoveries than the figure reported the previous day.
Meanwhile, Guyana has tested some 42, 327 persons for the novel coronavirus thus far.
Of the 43 new cases recorded on Wednesday, two were detected in Regions One (Barima-Waini), Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) and Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), while 15 cases were reported in Demerara-Mahaica, two in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), 11 in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), four in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) and five in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
The figures in the other two regions – Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and Region Nine (Upper Essequibo- Upper Takutu) – remained the same.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), as of Wednesday, some 90,335,008 confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported globally along with 1,954,336 deaths.
WHO also reported on Wednesday that in the Region of the Americas (Latin America and the Caribbean), the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased to 39,835,210 while the death toll in the Region has gone up to 925,289. (G8)