Staggering 967 new COVID-19 cases detected in 24 hours; 4 more die

…Health Minister urges infected persons to isolate

The rapid increase of novel coronavirus cases continues in Guyana as a record-breaking 967 new infections were recorded within a 24-hour period from more than 3,000 tests conducted countrywide.
This is according to Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony during his daily update on the COVID-19 situation in the country on Thursday. Health Authorities here have attributed the rapid spike in cases over the past two weeks to the omicron variant, which though not deadly is highly transmissible.
“As we have estimated with omicron, that we would get an increase in cases and so, over the last 24 hours, we have had 967 new cases from about 3,226 tests that were done,” Dr Anthony disclosed.
This comes on the heels of over 700 new cases being detected on Wednesday.

Active cases
According to the Health Minister, Thursday’s figure has brought the number of total number of active cases in Guyana to a whopping 3,481.
With Guyana’s confirmed cases climbing to 42,385, Dr Anthony said there are now active cases in all the regions across Guyana.
These include 14 actives cases in Region One (Barima-Waini), 58 in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), 285 in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), a staggering 2,289 cases in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), 83 in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), 374 in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), 110 cases in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), one case in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) – which the Minister explained is due to less testing – 160 more cases in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo), and 107 active cases in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
The Health Minister also highlighted the main COVID-19 hotspots in the various regions during Thursday’s update.
In Region Three, the hotspots are Parfaite Harmonie, West Bank Demerara, with 28 cases; Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo with 20 cases; Uitvlugt, West Coast Demerara, with 19 cases, and Zeelught, EBE, with 17 cases.

Hotspots
Meanwhile, with Region Four accounting for the highest amount of active cases, multiple hotspot communities have been identified in Georgetown, which has the most cases, as well as on the East Bank and East Coast of Demerara. See table for a breakdown of cases in these areas.
Other hotspot areas include New Amsterdam with 87 cases and Cumberland with 21 cases in Region Six and Bartica, Region Seven, with 106 cases.
Further, Region Nine has seen surges in Lethem with 72 active cases, Tabatinga with 22 cases, and Culvert City with 18 cases.
As it relates to Region 10, Wismar, Amelia’s Ward, and Makenzie are classified as hotspots with 38, 20, and 20 cases respectively.
Moreover, the active cases detected on Thursday includes six patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) – three on ventilators and two on CPAP machines – at the Ocean View Hospital, where a total of 38 persons are hospitalised. In total, there are some 70 COVID-19 infected persons hospitalised at facilities across the country.
In addition, there are 75 persons in institutional isolation and another 3,374 persons in home isolation. There are also five other persons in institutional quarantine.

Fatalities
Further, the Health Ministry reported on Thursday that four more persons who tested positive for the novel coronavirus have died.
These latest fatalities are a 62-year-old male from Region Two, who was unvaccinated and died on Wednesday; a 47-year-old male from the East Berbice- Corentyne region, who was fully vaccinated and died on Tuesday; a 42-year-old male from Region Four, who was partially vaccinated and died on Wednesday, and a 48-year-old female, who was also from the Demerara-Mahaica region and was fully vaccinated but died on Wednesday as well.
With these, the total number of deaths from the pandemic in Guyana has gone up to 1,064; while the COVID-19 death toll for the year thus far is now 10.
Meanwhile, some 37,866 persons have recovered from the life-threatening disease to date – 46 more recoveries than the figure reported the previous day.
some 37,842 persons have recovered from the life-threatening disease to date – 24 more recoveries than the figure reported the previous day.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country, approximately 438,484 persons have been tested so far and of this, some 19,853 males and 22,532 females were found to be positive.

Rising cases
Nevertheless, during Thursday’s update, Dr. Anthony pointed out that this surge of COVID-19 cases is expected to continue throughout Guyana especially with the Omicron variant being highly transmissible. As a result, the Health Minister is urging persons who have tested positive for the virus to isolate themselves in order to curb the spread of the disease.
“All these people who have tested positive, we’re asking them to stay in isolation because there are people who have tested positive and sometimes, they still walk around the place which means that there would be in their infectious period and they would be the persons who would be spreading it to others,” he implored.
With COVID-19 infections on a rapid rise in the country, health authorities are encouraging persons to take necessary precautions to prevent contracting the virus including get vaccinated and for those eligible, to get their booster shots.

Vaccination
So far, some 412,801 or 80.5 per cent of adults have received a first dose of a Covid vaccine, of which 298,089 or 58.1 per cent are fully vaccinated.
For children 12 to 17, some 30,701 or 42.1per cent have received a first dose of the Pfizer vaccines while 21,906 or 30 per centare fully inoculated.
In terms of booster doses, approximately 14,175 persons have received their jabs thus far.
Meanwhile, persons are also urged to continue observing all COVID-19 preventative measures, particularly masking in public, social distancing and frequent hand washing and sanitising. (G8)