Parents urged to get children immunised as highly-transmissible variants spread

…73 new COVID cases detected within 24h

Recognising that uptake of the COVID-19 vaccination for adolescents remains stagnant, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony has called for parental support to increase the figures, amid the circulation of the highly transmissible Omicron variants and subvariants.
Vaccination statistics for adults reflect 442,395 first doses, or 86.2 per cent. Second doses are at 342,021 doses, or 66.7 per cent. For the 12-to-17 category, 34,726 first doses, or 46.7 per cent, have been administered, along with 25,451 second doses, or 34.9 per cent.
“I think where we have difficulties would be with the adolescent population. We have just been having incremental numbers of young people coming forward to get vaccinated. Part of the difficulty has been the need for permission from parents. If a young person does not have permission from their parents, we cannot vaccinate them, so these numbers have remained relatively low,” Dr Anthony stated.
For Guyana to increase its adolescent immunisation coverage, the Health Minister said, cooperation from parents is needed. He reminded that with the circulation of a highly-transmissible variant in the country, preventing the virus requires vaccination.
“The variant that is circulating is more infectious, and therefore if we want to prevent the severity of the disease, it is better to be vaccinated. Unfortunately, while we have vaccines available, we’re not seeing people coming forward to take the vaccines…I’m appealing to parents to protect their children, and one way of doing this is by making sure they’re properly vaccinated.”
Meanwhile, 65,761 persons have come forward for their booster shot.

Infections
However, the Ministry reported on Friday that 73 persons have tested positive for the novel coronavirus – amounting to 65,1478 confirmed cases. This is approximately 29,952 males and 35,196 females.
There are two persons in the Intensive Care Unit, 25 in institutional isolation, 834 on home isolation, and three in institutional quarantine. Recovered cases stand at 1237, while 634,876 tests have been processed. The death toll remains at 1237.
A breakdown of the new cases showed that two were recorded in Region One (Barima-Waini); seven in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam); seven in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara); 45 in Region Four (Demerara-
Mahaica); seven in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice); two in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), one in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), and two in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
During his daily updates, Dr Frank Anthony asserted, “While a lot of people have stopped wearing masks, what we’re seeing is an increase in cases. The increase that we have seen so far might be an underestimate. A lot of people who would have had the symptoms of COVID might not have recognised them as COVID symptoms.”
If anyone is displaying any of the symptoms associated with COVID-19, or need any additional information, they are asked to contact the COVID-19 Hotline: 231-1166, 226-7480 or 624-6674 immediately, or visit www.health.gov.gy.
Global figures show that 528 million people have tested positive for the virus, and 6.2 million have died. In the Americas, more than 157 million confirmed cases have been reported with over 2.7 million deaths.