Two weeks after several pregnant women were hospitalised with COVID-19 at the Infectious Diseases Hospital at Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony revealed that they have all recovered.
During his daily COVID-19 update on Tuesday, Dr Anthony said the situation was worrisome since the majority of the positive cases were among unvaccinated pregnant women.
“Currently, we don’t have any maternal cases in the ICU or the hospital per say,” Dr Anthony said.
He, however, stated that there are 53 patients hospitalised countrywide with 42 of them at the Infectious Diseases Hospital; there are 16 patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
Dr Anthony reiterated that the COVID-19 vaccine, particularly the Pfizer vaccine offered to pregnant and breastfeeding women, is safe.
He explained that the operating theatre at the Infectious Diseases Hospital for maternal deliveries was also utilised as many women who tested positive were close to delivery.
According to Dr Anthony, each pregnant woman coming into public hospitals are to be tested for COVID; if positive, they are transferred to the Infectious Diseases Hospital.
Meanwhile, there has been one COVID death recorded within the last 24 hours. This means that a total of 1, 009 persons have died from the virus here.
The ministry recently announced that persons 18 and over are now eligible for booster shots.
Dr Anthony reminded: “We keep emphasising the point that if you only get one dose of the vaccine, it is not going to give you full protection.”
For the adult population, the first dose vaccination rate is at 78.8 per cent, while the second dose is at 55.3 per cent.
For the 12 to 18 population, the first dose is at 40.5 per cent and the second dose at 28.4 per cent.
So far, 3189 persons have received their booster dose.
“We really need to do a lot more work here, parents can help us, teachers, other influential persons in the community, they need to help us to talk to young people in these communities to make sure they get vaccinated,” Dr Anthony said.
He assured that there is enough vaccines in the country for persons to be immunised.
He noted that the country can expect to see an increase in cases within regions with low vaccination rates, such as Regions 1, 2, and 10.
