…7 persons in ICU, 18 new cases
Another elderly person who tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has died, according to the Health Ministry on Sunday.
This latest fatality is an 80-year-old female from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), who died on Sunday. She was unvaccinated at the time of her death.
With this, the total number of deaths from the pandemic in Guyana has gone up to 1211. Consequently, the COVID-19 death toll for the month of February is now 41.
Meanwhile, 18 more persons have tested positive for COVID-19 within a 24-hour period, which takes the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 62,656, according to the Health Ministry’s updated COVID-19 dashboard on Sunday.
Active cases in the country are now at 941 including seven patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and of the remaining persons, 69 are in institutional isolation and the other 865 in home isolation.
There are also four more persons institutional quarantine, according to Sunday’s dashboard. 
So far, some 60,504 persons have recovered from the life-threatening disease.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country, approximately 532,559 persons have been tested so far and of this, some 28,842 males and 33,814 females were found to be positive.
Of the 18 new cases reported on Sunday, one was from Region One (Barima-Waini), two cases from Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), three from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), one more case from the Demerara-Mahaica region, another two cases from Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), four cases from Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), one each from Regions Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) and Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo), and the remaining three cases from Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
There were no new cases recorded in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) within the 24-hour period.
Health authorities have been encouraging 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, 429,982 adults or 83.8 per cent have taken a first dose and of that amount, some 324,175 or 63.2 per cent of persons 18 years and over are fully vaccinated.
For adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17, approximately 33,294 or 45.6 per cent have received their first dose, while some 23,914 or 32.8 per cent of them are fully immunised.
So far, more than 48,000 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 418,650,474 confirmed cases were reported globally along with 5,856,224 deaths.
In the Region of the Americas, that is, Latin America and the Caribbean, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased to 144,596,557 while the death toll in the region has gone up to 2,591,440.
As it relates to vaccination against COVID-19, the WHO also reported that a total of 10,279,668,555 doses have been administered worldwide. (G8)
