For the third day in succession, no new COVID-19 case was recorded yesterday even as 27 more tests were done within the last 24 hours.
The number of positive COVID-19 cases in Guyana still stands at 153 even as the number of persons tested grew to 1,699. This marks the sixth time since Guyana recorded its first case on March 11 that the number of cases did not increase for three days or more.
During the Ministry of Public Health’s COVID-19 update, it was stated that the number of persons recovered remains at 70 with 71 persons in institutional isolation which accounts for the number of active cases. Two persons remain in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit while 25 persons are currently in institutional quarantine.
In keeping with the ministry’s preparedness plan for the regions, Dr Afarah Khan, Regional Health Officer (RHO) for Region Two, highlighted that within their region, which has not recorded a single case of COVID-19, a regional health emergency committee was set up which meets every 48 hours to make decisions.
Dr Khan stated that they have developed a strong screening system within the region at the Supenaam stelling, government offices and all health facilities in the region. With that the RHO noted that the regional administration has been sanitising all government offices and buildings along with the health facilities. Further she urged residents of the region to continue adhering to the public health emergency measures that were put in place.
The Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr Karen Gordon-Boyle during the live update yesterday, stated that they have warned a number residents of Regions One, Eight and Nine against crossing the border and are now urging residents of Region Six to refrain from doing the same as neighbouring Suriname has recorded new cases after managing to contain the disease. Dr Gordon-Boyle stated that Guyana is in a vulnerable position for receiving imported cases.
Gordon-Boyle reiterated that isolation and quarantine facilities are not the same as only persons who have tested positive for COVID-19 are isolated. She pointed out that the duration of time that persons spend in isolation is not fixed as that depends on how fast the body fights off the virus.
Over the past few weeks, persons have raised concerns about the condition and standards of the quarantine and isolation facilities within the regions. In a separate interview with Stabroek News, Deputy Director of the Health Emergency Operation Center, Dr Leston Payne stated that all regions have both isolation and quarantine facilities which are all in keeping with PAHO/WHO and Inter-national Health Regulation standards. “If an area has been identified as an isolation or quarantine facility, that area is not given the green light until Standards and Technical comes and does their evaluation,” he said.
Dr Payne noted that when that evaluation is done and it is deemed in keeping with the guidelines then the “green light” is given for the facility to operate as that facility. “So far in every administrative region, we can boast that we have isolation and quarantine facilities. Yes they are up to standard,” Dr Payne asserted.
