Guyana on Wednesday recorded 313 new COVID-19 cases, the highest number of positive cases recorded within 24 hours. The new infections take the overall number of confirmed cases since March 2020 to 28, 547.
Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony during his daily COVID-19 briefing on Wednesday said positive cases are continuing to rise and he again urged persons to take all the necessary precautions and also get vaccinated.
“Currently the active cases that we have [are] 3, 368 persons with active COVID across Guyana,” Dr Anthony revealed.
Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) has the highest number locally with 1, 955 active cases; this is followed by Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) with 805 cases.
“I hope people are paying close attention to these numbers because unless you take precautions and those are the standard precaution we have been talking about – masking, social distancing and sanitizing and of course getting vaccinated – if you don’t abide by these rules unfortunately you are going to get infected and if you are unvaccinated you can end up in the hospital,” Dr Anthony stated.
In terms of hospitalisation, the Health Minister revealed that there are currently 141 persons in hospitals across Guyana; 99 are hospitalised at the Infectious Diseases Hospital and 17 persons are hospitalised at the Georgetown Public Hospital Cooperation (GPHC). Additionally, there are 31 patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Infectious Diseases Hospital.
Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr. Narine Singh told the News Room on Tuesday that the healthcare system has been understaffed, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, and now with the surge in hospitalisations and deaths, it is possible that the health system could reach its breaking point.
VACCINATION
As of Tuesday, September 14, 2021, a total of 534, 185 vaccines doses were administered. Of that number 19, 131 children between 12 and 18 years old received their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine, this accounts for 26.2 per cent of persons in this age group. Some 339, 206 or 66.1 per cent of the adult population received their first dose while 175,848 that is 34.3 per cent of the adult population are fully immunized.
While the Health Minister continues to urge persons to return for their second shot of the vaccine, over 80,000 persons are awaiting the second dose Sputnik V vaccines which are being delayed due to a global shortage and shipping problems.
Dr Anthony is also encouraging pregnant and breastfeeding women to get vaccinated, stating that there is no data or study which suggests the vaccine is harmful to either mother or child.
“These vaccines can be very very protective, so I want to urge pregnant women in Guyana to make sure they get their vaccines during pregnancy, this is very important if you,” Dr Anthony said.