The 10th person who died from COVID-19 was a 63-year-old male patient at the Palms Geriatric Home on Brickdam, Georgetown, multiple health officials have confirmed to the News Room.
The News Room was reliably informed that the man died at the Georgetown Public Hospital on Friday, May 1, hours after he was admitted.
A hospital source said the elderly was admitted as a ‘suspected COVID-19 patient’ in the male medical ward of the hospital with “mild symptoms” of the disease.
After he died, the patient was tested positive for COVID-19 but his death was only revealed on May 5 by the Ministry of Public Health and no information was provided on the victim.
While remaining tight-lipped about the name and area of residence for COVID-19 patients, the Ministry of Public Health is complaining about difficulties in contact tracing.
It is unclear if any other patient from the Palms was tested for the disease.
The Department of Public Information in August last year reported that the home caters for approximately 780 patients, both residents and outside of the home.
Many of the patients at the home suffer from diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and other illnesses attributed to older persons.
Meanwhile, a one-year-old child and a 12-year-old are among six additional persons who have tested positive for COVID-19 in Region Ten.
The Regional Health and Emergency Committee (RHEC) announced that another child and two other persons were tested after showing symptoms, but the results are not yet known.
In Guyana to date, more males are testing positive for the virus and even with the fatalities, men have a higher death rate.
As of May 6, there was no new case of the disease and the total know cases remain at 93; this includes 10 deaths and 27 recoveries.
A total of 714 persons have been tested, of whom 621 are negative. There are three persons in the COVID-19 ICU, six in institutional quarantine and 56 in isolation.
Guyana ninth COVID-19 death was recorded on April 29. The victim was 67-year-old Morris who was in the ICU.
Guyana recorded its eighth COVID-19 death on April 24; the victim was identified as Lennox Williams, 45, who died at approximately 14:45hrs.
Williams was also in the ICU. As of April 29, Guyana recorded 78 known cases of the disease including 18 recoveries and the number of deaths; this means there are 51 active cases of the disease here.
Guyana’s seventh COVID-19 death was recorded on April 18; the victim was 49-year-old Sydney Trellis popularly known as ‘Jacket’ who resided at Wismar, Linden in Region 10.
The sixth COVID-19 death in Guyana was recorded on April 8 and the victim was veteran engineer, Colonel John Percy Leon Lewis, 77. He was tested positive for the disease after he died.
The fifth death was recorded on April 6 and that victim was drag racer Deryck ‘Mad Dog’ Jaisingh while the fourth victim was 59-year-old Shadrach Stoll, who had a history of health complications, including diabetes and hypertension.
Guyana’s third COVID-19 death was recorded on April 3 and the victim was identified as Osa Collins, a 78-year-old resident of New Amsterdam.
Thirty-eight-year old Jermaine Ifill was the second person who died from the disease on March 31 while 52-year-old Ratna Baboolall from Good Hope, East Coast Demerara was Guyana’s first case; she died on March 11, a few days after arriving from the United States.
