More than 10,000 COVID cases in Guyana were children, teenagers

Local health authorities reported that there have been at least 63,202 COVID-19 infections recorded since March 2020 and of that number, 10,078 were recorded among children and young adults.

This is according to the Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony, who stated that the infections recorded among individuals younger than 19 years old accounted for 15 per cent of all infections.

And he provided a breakdown of these cases by age category as follows:

1. Children aged zero to four: 722 males infected; 702 females infected
2. Children aged five to nine: 944 males; 907 females
3. Children aged 10 to 14: 1,168 males; 1,340 females
4. Teenagers aged 15 to 19: 1,813 males; 2,482 females

Meanwhile, the Health Minister said that it is important for children to return to school next month.

Returning to full face-to-face classes, he said, will allow local education authorities to counter the massive learning loss expected from the COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of schools.

When asked about measures to curtail the spread of the novel coronavirus in schools, thereby protecting children from becoming infected, Dr. Anthony said, “As school reopens I’m sure the Ministry of Education will put measures in place to reduce transmission and we wouldn’t see an increase in cases.”

He emphasised too, “We still have cases and every day we are still finding a few cases.

“Therefore, people still need to be adopting the measures and maintaining them.”