Unvaccinated Region 2 pensioner dies from COVID-19

…107 new cases, 2 in ICU

Another person who tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has died, according to the Health Ministry on Wednesday.
This latest fatality is an 85-year-old female from Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), who died since June 9, 2022. She was unvaccinated at the time of her death.
With this, the total number of deaths from the virus in Guyana has gone up to 1249.
Meanwhile, the Ministry also reported on Wednesday that some 107 new COVID-19 cases were recorded within the previous 24-hour period.
This now takes the total number of confirmed cases in Guyana to 66,695, of which only 855 are currently active cases. These comprise two patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the remaining persons in isolation – 22 in institutional isolation and the other 831 in home isolation. One person is in institutional quarantine.
To date, some 64,591 persons have recovered from the life-threatening virus in the country – 45 more recoveries than the figure reported the previous day.
Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Guyana more than two years ago, a total of 654,068 tests have been conducted countrywide and of this figure, some 30, 607 males and 36, 088 females were found to be positive.
Of the 107 new cases recorded on Wednesday, three were from Region One (Barima-Waini), 20 cases from Pomeroon-Supenaam, three from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), a whopping 68 cases from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), another 10 from Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) and the remaining three cases from Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo).
There were no new cases recorded in the other four regions across the country within the reporting 24-hour period.
After a prolonged period of declining cases, the Guyana Government, back in March, removed most restrictions as the country moved to recover from the pandemic and return to normalcy. But in recent weeks, there have a spike in COVID cases here, which health authorities have attributed to the BA.2 subvariant of the Omicron strain.
Persons have been urged to continue taking precautionary measures such as masking in public and vaccination, especially for those who are qualified to get their booster shots as an added layer of protection against the virus.
Latest figures show that so far, more than 443, 177 or 86.4 per cent of adults have taken a first dose, while some 342, 918 or 66.8 per cent are fully vaccinated. In addition, in excess of 67, 500 persons have returned for their third-dose booster shots thus far.
For adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17, just over 25,500 or 35 per cent are fully vaccinated. Vaccination is also available for children between the ages of five and 11 , and hundreds of them have already received a first dose.
According to recent figures from the World Health Organisation (WHO), some 538, 321, 874 confirmed cases were reported globally along with 6, 320, 599 deaths.
In the Region of the Americas, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased to 160, 932, 224 while the death toll has gone up to 2,754, 867.
As it relates to vaccination against COVID-19, WHO also reported that a total of 11, 912, 594, 538 doses have been administered worldwide. (G8)