There are now 24 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Guyana, while the number of persons who have been tested for the respiratory disease have increased from 83 to 95.
This is according to the latest Ministry of Public Health COVID-19 figures, which were released yesterday. As of yesterday there were 24 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with one test result being inconclusive. There are now 14 persons in institutional isolation and 34 persons in institutional quarantine while 157 persons are on home quarantine.
On Friday, On Friday, Deputy Chief Medical Officer (DCMO) Dr. Karen Gordon-Boyle confirmed four new cases of COVID-19) in Guyana, bringing the total number of positive cases to 23 as at April 2nd.
With the latest confirmation, there are now 20 active confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Guyana.
The four persons who died after testing positive for COVID-19 are 52-year-old Ratna Baboolall, 38-year-old Jermaine Ifill, 78-year-old Osa Collins and 59-year-old Shadrach Stoll. Baboolall, who was patient zero, had travelled from the United States to Guyana died at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation on March 11.
Meanwhile, during a virtual press conference hosted by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo yesterday, Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence sought to explain the reason for an apparent delay in the release of results after COVID-19 testing.
PPP/C candidate Dr. Vindhya Vasini Persaud on Friday voiced concern that doctors were not been given test results as they become available through the National Public Health Reference Laboratory. “Volda Lawrence is totally controlling the when. This clamp down attitude is endangering healthcare workers and delaying the care that patients may need based on test results,” she wrote in a post on Facebook.
Testing is not done unless it is justified by the doctor writing a long detailed report as to why a patient must be tested. Time is going and we are all seeing videos and statements from sick patients who need to be tested to the necessary flow from [t]est to treatment to contact tracking and isolation, quarantine or treatment could be done – that’s how you flatten the curve at that level,” she added, while calling the situation completely unacceptable.
An explanation from Lawrence was read by the Director of Public Information Imran Khan, who said that all information from the laboratory is not only being sent to her but to other relevant authorities who are directly involved with the COVID-19 response. “It is embargoed to the public and persons who do not have anything to do with the response to COVID-19 and this is as a result of what happened previously when information was placed in the public domain without the patients knowing their status or the family members being informed about their loved ones,” Lawrence was reported as saying.
COVID-19 causes respiratory illness, with symptoms including coughing, fever, and, in more severe cases, difficulty breathing. 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.
In a bid to slow the spread of the disease a one-month partial nationwide lockdown has been imposed by government.