With the number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases rising in Region Four, the Ministry of Health is moving ahead with plans to isolate patients with mild COVID-19 symptoms at the recently commissioned $1.6 billion Infectious Diseases Hospital at Liliendaal.
During an interview with Stabroek News yesterday, Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony disclosed that the Ministry in collaboration with the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) is working to put 55 beds in a section of the facility to accommodate patients experiencing mild symptoms of COVID-19.
In a previous report, Anthony had stated that the hospital is a “shell” and major work needs to be done at the hospital and in the health sector to better Guyana’s response to COVID-19.
Yesterday, he noted that apart from the actual structure, there is not much to the recently renovated facility. However, he says they have reviewed and worked on a section of the building and have decided to house patients there who are experiencing mild symptoms of the COVID-19. The facility was also discussed at an emergency multi-stakeholder meeting yesterday. According to a statement from the Office of the President, participants discussed how to enhance the capacity of the facility to function as an isolation facility. The details of that discussion were not revealed.
Anthony added that persons suffering from mild symptoms of COVID-19 do not require the support that patients with severe symptoms must have, but they need to be properly isolated. He however assured that those patients will receive the necessary support and doctors will be monitoring them 24/7. “So that’s what we are aiming to have up and running very shortly. We will be able to house at least 55 patients in that section,” he said.
In addition, he noted that the Diamond Isolation Unit is still in use and presently, there are several COVID-19 patients being isolated there.
Currently there a several COVID-19 hotspots across Region Four.
According to Anthony, there are clusters of cases in Eccles, Providence and Diamond, on the East Bank of Demerara; La Bonne Intention (LBI), Industry, and Ogle, on the East Coast of Demerara; and Kitty, Campbellville, South Ruimveldt, and Prashad Nagar, in George-town. He noted that there a few other cases scattered around various areas in the region but the places mentioned are considered hotspots.
The minister also informed that persons can have their samples taken at the Georgetown Public Hospital, Herstelling on the East Bank, and Paradise on the East Coast. A significant number of samples, he said, are coming from those testing sites.
He added that many persons have indicated their interest to get tested and the Ministry is trying to accommodate them, but ideally, once persons have stated that they feel like they have been exposed, they would be told to self-quarantine for a few days. By the fifth day, he said, it would be ideal for them to be tested because if a PCR test is done too early, the result might be affected.
“If we test PCR too early then sometimes you can have challenges on whether the person would have enough viral particles in their body for us to detect it, so PCR really depends on the amount of viral load in the person’s system and therefore if you test really early, you might not find anything and that’s why we advise people to wait a little bit and then we can test them,” he said.
Meanwhile, to prevent a further increase in cases, he urged persons to simply adhere to guidelines. “Wear masks, social distance, these are all things that have been put in place to prevent [an increase in COVID-19 cases]… But the only way we will stem the tide in COVID-19 really has to do with behavioural change and people must abide by these rules,” he said before adding that doctors and nurses have been screening persons whenever they go to the hospital.
Region Four has recorded the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the country to date. The region has also recorded the highest number of deaths. As of yesterday, according to the Ministry’s dashboard, Region Four had 378 COVID-19 cases.
