…10 in ICU
Another person who tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has died, according to the Health Ministry on Sunday.
This latest fatality is a 57-year-old male from Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), who died on Saturday. At the time of his death, the man’s vaccination status was unknown.
With this, the total number of deaths from the pandemic outbreak in Guyana has gone up to 1194. Consequently, the COVID-19 death toll for the month of February is now 24.
Meanwhile, there were 34 new COVID-19 infections detected within a 24-hour period, according to the Health Ministry’s updated COVID-19 dashboard on Sunday.
This now takes the total number of confirmed cases in Guyana to 62,255 of which only 1940 are currently active cases. This includes 10 patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the remaining 1930 persons are in isolation, that is, 80 in institutional isolation and the remaining 1850 in home isolation.
Additionally, there are 12 other persons currently in institutional quarantine, according to the dashboard.
Moreover, some 59,121 persons have recovered from the life-threatening disease to date – 109 more recoveries than the figure reported the previous day.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country, approximately 524,376 persons have been tested so far and of this, some 28,668 males and 33,587 females were found to be positive.
Of the 34 new cases reported on Sunday, two were from Region One (Barima-Waini), a whopping 17 cases from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), 10 more from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), another two cases from Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), one each from Regions Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) and Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo).
There were no new cases recorded in Regions Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) within the 24-hour period.
While it is on the decline now, the surge in COVID-19 cases over the past several weeks has been attributed to the Omicron variant, which though not deadly is highly transmissible.
As such, health authorities are urging persons to get vaccinated, and for those who are qualified to get their booster shots, in order to add a layer of protection against the virus.
Latest figures show that so far, over 429,000 or 84 per cent adults have taken a first dose and of that amount, some 62 per cent of persons 18 years and over are fully vaccinated.
For adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17, almost 34,000 or 46 per cent have received at least one dose of which some 33 per cent of them are fully immunised.
So far, more than 45,000 persons have returned for their booster shots.
However, as more people continue to get vaccinated, authorities are urging the public to continue observing all COVID-19 preventative measures, particularly masking in public, social distancing and frequent hand washing and sanitising – which are more significant now with the rapidly-spreading Omicron variant.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) recent figures, some 404,910,528 confirmed cases were reported globally along with 5,783,776 deaths.
In the Region of the Americas, that is, Latin America and the Caribbean, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased to 141,992,745 while the death toll in the region has gone up to 2,559,572.
As it relates to vaccination against COVID-19, the WHO also reported that a total of 10,095,615,243 doses have been administered worldwide. (G8)
