The Ministry of Health (MoH) on Saturday reported the deaths of two more men due to COVID-19, taking the country’s death toll from the virus to 214, even as the number of infections continue to rise.
The latest fatalities were only identified as a 70-year-old man from Region Seven (Cuyuni- Mazaruni) and a 50-year-old man from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica). The ministry said they both died while receiving care at a public medical facility.
With the latest fatalities, there have been a total of seven COVID-19 deaths reported by the ministry over the last week, with five of them being seniors. Last Monday, the ministry confirmed the death of an 89-year-old woman from Region Three; on Tuesday, it confirmed the death of a 66-year-old woman from Region Four; on Wednesday it confirmed the death of a 42-year-old man from Region Three; and on Thursday it confirmed the deaths of two 66-year-old men from Region Four.
Efforts are currently underway countrywide to vaccinate the population age 60 and above.
Meanwhile, according to the latest COVID-19 dashboard, which was released yesterday, a total of 99 new cases were also confirmed yesterday by the ministry, taking the total number of cases recorded thus far to 9,585. The new cases were detected from 927 tests that were done.
The dashboard showed that 54 of the new cases are from Region Four, 19 from Region Three, 4 from Region Two, 2 from Region One, and 1 each from regions Nine and Ten.
Based on the dashboards released from last Sunday to yesterday, 425 new cases were confirmed from 5,204 tests, with the majority (254) originating in Region Four during that period, while Region Three (67), Region Six (23), Region Seven (35) and Region Ten (34) also saw spikes.
Region Four clusters
Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony during his daily COVID-19 update on Friday stated that there were approximately 420 active cases in Region Four, with “clusters” being seen in Diamond, East Bank Demerara, and Kitty, in Georgetown.
Anthony stated that the ministry has seen an overall increase in cases over the previous two weeks, which he noted can be attributed to a number of factors that included the continuous increase in testing for the virus nationwide. He noted that on Thursday when some 120 cases were reported, the results had come from over 1,000 tests that were done.
“So we have seen an overall increase of cases over the last two weeks and we can attribute it to a number of factors. One can be the increase of testing that we are doing… the more you test the more cases you would find and I think that’s one of the phenomena that we are seeing,” Anthony said.
As it relates to current hotspots or areas where spikes in cases have been recently recorded, the minister indicated that most of the areas that were previously hotspots have been “relatively quiet” as of late.
However, he mentioned the cluster of cases that have been identified in Diamond and Kitty and said that those areas are currently being monitored as a result. Additionally, he said the authorities have also identified a number of cases in Region Three and will be monitoring the region for spikes.
“There cases are more diffused with one or two cases in different areas and… nevertheless we are looking at it because as an aggregate in Region Three we have seen quite a number of cases so we continue to monitor,” the minister noted.
Yesterday’s dashboard also indicated that the active cases comprise 10 persons who are in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU), 52 in institutional isolation, and 820 in home isolation. There are also 15 persons are institutional quarantine. Some 8,489 persons who were infected with the virus have recovered to date.
