‘People need to act sensibly’ to prevent spread of COVID

While he stayed clear of saying whether he anticipates a surge in COVID-19 cases after the upcoming Christmas and New Year holidays, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony on Wednesday once again encouraged vaccination and the uptake of booster doses.

He said people must also take personal responsibility to limit transmission with the more transmissible Omicron variant spreading across the globe. While the variant was detected in at least four regional countries, no presence was found in Guyana as yet.

But even on that positive note, Dr Anthony says precautions must be taken during the season known for large gatherings.

“Omicron spreads because of people behaviour. A lot of people don’t adhere to public health measures,” he said while ruling out changes to the country’s travel measures and any lockdown.

“People will need to act sensibly and acting sensibly means to take on personal responsibility… to protect yourself,” Dr. Anthony said in his daily COVID-19 update on Wednesday.

He did say that failure to adhere to public health measures can result in an increase in COVID-19 infections. Dr. Anthony said with re-infection continuing to occur, people fully vaccinated but without booster shots and those still unvaccinated will need to take action.

He said there are enough vaccines in the country to accommodate first-timers and those seeking booster shots.

“If want to see a reduction in cases, if you want to see a reduction in hospitalisation, in deaths then all of us must be involved and take personal responsibility,” Dr. Anthony added.

To date, some 409, 582 adults have received the first dose of a COVID vaccine (78.8% of the adult population) while 292, 173 persons have received the second dose of a vaccine (57% of the adult population).

Meanwhile, some 29.4% of adolescents have been inoculated fully while 10, 077 persons have already received booster doses.