Unvaccinated Region 10 woman is latest COVID fatality

…Task Force to clamp down on businesses during holidays – Health Minister

Guyana’s COVID-19 death toll has climbed to 1,025 after another person who had tested positive for the novel coronavirus died on Wednesday.
This latest fatality is a 68-year-old woman from Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), who died on December 15. She had been unvaccinated against the deadly virus, according to the Health Ministry.
Consequently, the COVID-19 death toll for the month of December has gone up to 26.
Meanwhile, the Health Minister also reported on Wednesday that some 66 new COVID-19 cases were detected within a 24-hour period, taking the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 38,684. Of this, however, only 792 are currently active cases, including nine patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and 783 persons in isolation. That is, 48 in institutional isolation and the other 735 in home isolation. In addition, there are three persons in institutional quarantine.
To date, some 36,867 persons have recovered from the life-threatening virus – 83 more recoveries than the figure reported the previous day.
Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Guyana last year, some 408,118 persons have been tested, of which 18,247 males and 20,437 females have tested positive to date.
Of the 66 new cases recorded on Wednesday, three are from Region One (Barima-Waini), four are from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), a whopping 27 are from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), two are from Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), 26 are from Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) and the remaining four are from Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
No new cases were recorded in Regions Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) on Wednesday.
In order to curb the rising number of cases in the country, the Guyana Government launched its COVID-19 vaccination exercise back in February, and is aggressively rolling it out across the various regions in order to achieve herd immunity. The latest vaccination figures show that some 407,341 persons, or 79.4 per cent of the adult population, have received a first dose vaccine, while 288,315 persons 18 years and older are fully immunised, representing 56.2 per cent of the adult population.
Regarding adolescents, some 29,865 persons, or 40.9 per cent of that demographic, have received their first dose, while 21,107 persons, or 28.9 per cent of the 12-to-17 age cohort, are fully vaccinated.

Booster shots
Meanwhile, the Government commenced administering booster shots last month, after studies around the world show that the efficacy of the vaccines wanes after six months of receiving both doses. So far, some 7,270 booster shots have been administered to the adult population.
According to Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony, during Wednesday’s COVID-19 update, this figure representing booster shots is going up incrementally.
“So, we expect that this would increase,” he noted.
Persons are encouraged to get immunised, since the COVID-19 vaccine provides a layer of protection against severe symptoms of the deadly virus; and with the new variant Omicron now in circulation, the Health Minister has underscored the importance now more than ever for persons to get their booster shots.
“If you’re boosted, you’ll have a better immunity to fight off the Omicron variant, because your immunity levels will go up to about the 80s. And so my advice to persons who are 18 years and older and would have received the two doses of your vaccines is to make sure that you go and get your boosters,” Dr Anthony has implored.
The Health Ministry had reported that persons who took the Pfizer, Moderna or AstraZeneca vaccines can use Pfizer as the booster shot; while those who received the Sputnik V would get a Johnson and Johnson dose as a booster, and those with Sinopharm would get another shot of that jab as a booster.
Even as more people continue to get vaccinated, the 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.
The measures also include vaccination requirements to access any public building, such as restaurants, places of worship, schools, as well as Government buildings.
There is also a nightly curfew that takes effect from midnight to 06:00h daily.

Warning to businesses
However, in light of the current holiday season, the Health Minister has cautioned businesses to continue to comply with the various measures and guidelines in place to protect against the spread of the virus. He has warned that the National COVID-19 Task Force would be on the lookout for those businesses in breach.
Speaking during Wednesday’s COVID update, Dr Anthony explained that throughout the year, the COVID-19 Task Force, which comprises of various law enforcement bodies, has been clamping down on businesses across the country that are found in breach of the guidelines.
“On a weekly basis, the Task Force would go out and do inspections of businesses; and over last month, they would have written to more than 60 businesses and, in some instances, they shut them down temporarily because of repeated breaches of COVID guidelines,” he has said.
According to Minister Anthony, similar actions would be taken during the upcoming holidays to ensure that Guyana does not see a spike in COVID-19 infections.
“The Task Force would continue to do this during this season, and if persons are not compliant, or if persons are repeat offenders, then certainly the Task Force would take the requisite action as it has been doing before. So, this is an ongoing process and it continues in the month of December,” the Health Minister has posited. (G8)