Boy, 17, among five COVID-19 deaths

A 17-year-old boy from Region Four (Demerara- Mahaica) is among the five new deaths reported by the Ministry of Health on Wednesday. The boy died on August 16.

According to the Ministry, the other fatalities are:

1. An 87-year-old man from Region Four; he died on August 17
2. An 84-year-old man from Region Four; he died on August 17
3. A 63-year-old woman from Region Five (Mahaica- Berbice); she died on August 17
4. A 70-year-old man from Region Four; he died on August 13

The Ministry of Health reported that patients were admitted with COVID-19 like symptoms, but died while receiving care at medical institutions. Samples were taken at the time of admission, which subsequently returned positive tests.

With these five deaths, 41 deaths have been recorded thus far in August, while 587 deaths have been recorded since the pandemic started in March, 2020.

Meanwhile, 120 new infections were recorded over a 24-hour period, pushing the overall number of confirmed infections to 23,795.

The new cases were recorded in Region One (three new cases), Region Two (one case), Region Three (24 cases), Region Four (72 cases), Region Five (four cases), Region Six (nine cases), Region Seven (three cases), Region Eight (one case), Region Nine (one case) and Region 10 (two cases).

Fifteen patients are in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Infectious Diseases Hospital, while 88 are in institutional isolation, 980 are in home isolation and five in institutional quarantine.

Another 75 people who were previously infected have recovered; a total of 22, 125 people have recovered.