Almost 500 new COVID-19 infections were reported yesterday even as health officials say that a further increase could be expected.
This was revealed by the Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony during his daily COVID-19 update where he stated that 485 new cases were reported and have increased the country’s active cases significantly.
“Our active cases are now 1,824, so that’s a big jump, it’s probably the highest total we have had in a day and maybe these numbers would even go further,” he opined. Anthony added that of the active cases, 1,138 are in Region Four, 272 in Region Six, 148 in Region Three, 41 in Region Two, 78 in Region Nine, and 74 in Region Ten.
He acknowledged that cases are going up across the country and even in those regions where there are low cases, authorities are awaiting test results as samples have been collected but have not yet been processed. The health minister reasoned that persons can expect that this trend will continue.
Giving a breakdown, he indicated that there are approximately 113 cases spread across Diamond, Providence, Herstelling and Grove on the East Bank of Demerara. He added that in almost every ward in Georgetown there is a relatively large amount of cases.
As part of this high number of active cases, Dr. Anthony confirmed that a number of doctors and other medical staff have tested positive for the novel coronavirus and as such this situation is being monitored.
The health minister stated, “We have taken mitigation measures, so it has not had a big impact so far on service delivery but if more and more people get sick then obviously it’s going to have an impact.” He noted that those who are sick are being monitored even as most of them are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic and will return to work shortly.
Observers believe that the surge is connected to the likely presence here of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 and the socializing that occurred over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.
