Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence yesterday urged persons to protect themselves from the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) by covering up their mouths and noses when leaving their homes.
“Protect yourselves from these invisible droplets that are responsible for this infectious disease,” Lawrence appealed during the ministry’s daily COVID-19 update yesterday.
The minister noted that despite having countless precautionary advisories in place to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, persons are still breaching protocols and behaving as though they are immune to the disease.
“Let me remind that COVID-19 [has] no boundaries. Its firing power [is] aimed directly at all of us. Therefore I am urging you, no I’m begging you to do your part and adhere to all credible advisories that have been circulating in the media,” she added.
The ministry is advising persons to adhere to precautionary measures like hand washing and social distancing.
Four deaths have now been attributed to COVID-19, with the latest being that of a 59-year-old man at the Diamond Hospital Wednesday night and 78-year-old Osa Collins from New Amsterdam, who died earlier the same day. Another, Jermaine Ifill, died on Tuesday, while the first COVID-19 victim died on March 11.
Lawrence yesterday reported that the number of COVID-19 cases in Guyana remained at 19, while the number of persons who have been tested as of April 1st had increased from 70 to 75. She did not reveal if anybody was tested yesterday.
Lawrence further revealed that of the 19 who have tested positive for COVID-19, 11 are in institutional isolation, with one being a patient of the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) while four persons have since died of the disease. Seventeen of the confirmed cases are from Region Four, while one each are from regions Three and Six. Thirty-one persons are in institutional quarantine, while 121 persons in home-quarantine.
Meanwhile, Lawrence also said that the ministry has adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), which will be distributed to health care workers soon.
She said the PPE will be distributed to various levels of staff by hospitals and Regional Health Officers in every region after she encourage them to ensure that they protect themselves and fight the battle against COVID-19 with vigour.
She also thanked the persons who have taken the initiative to do their part in slowing the spread of the disease, including Mondale Smith and Team, who are doing works in Wortmanville, an East Bank Demerara clean up team, and the residents of Perth, Mahaicony, who have established a hand washing station in their community.
COVID-19 causes respiratory illness with symptoms including coughing, fever, and in more severe cases, difficulty breathing and death. It was first recorded in Wuhan, China and has since spread across the globe causing the World Health Organization (WHO) to label it a global pandemic.
