Guyana records 160th COVID-19 deaths, 45 new cases in 24h

– cases continue to sting in Region 10
… As the Ministry of Health awaits scientific data on a new coronavirus variant

The Ministry of Health announced Tuesday that there had been another local death by COVID-19, thereby bringing the death toll to 160.
The latest death is a 73-year-old man from Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice). He died Monday while being cared for at a medical facility. His death is the ninth for December, so far.
However, 45 new cases were detected in one day. Of the total 6216 confirmed cases, 3220 are male and 2996 are female.
There are five people in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), 31 in institutional isolation, 635 apart from home and 15 in institutional quarantine. For now, 5385 cases have been recovered.
Analysis showed that three new cases were detected in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), eight in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) and 34 in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
There are still 931 cases in Region One (Barima-Waini); 186 in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam); 442 in Region Three (Essequibo-West Demerara Islands); 76 in Region Five (Demerara-Mahaica); 303 in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne); 184 in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and 396 in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Essequibo Upper).
On Tuesday, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony stressed that there is no cure for the virus so far. As a result, he said the medicines will not work for everyone.
“None of these medicines are magic bullets. There is no cure for COVID-19 and so, while some people may be helped by the medicines, it is not going to cure everyone. We still have to look at various options and see what we can do for that patient. We now understand more about the disease and how people move from one stage to another, what types of responses are expected, how to manage those better, ”he said.
On the vaccine aspect, he said they are working to get an expert on board to understand the dynamics of cold chain operation.
“It’s important that we have some expertise in this area and we work with people who understand how to use this really cool chain. We’ve talked to the COVAX mechanism and applied for a grant to get a specialist through the technical assistance of COVAX, in working with an ultra-cold chain. We expect a favorable response from them. ”

New stress
Recent reports confirmed that a new variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has been discovered in the United Kingdom. This has led to tighter restrictions on the virus in London and elsewhere. There are over 23 known mutations, a factor of concern in the global community.
Speaking about this issue, the Health Minister said, “As more investigations are carried out, we are likely to get a better picture of what is happening … Many countries have moved to prevent air traffic between them them and the UK. So, we had discussions with CARPHA yesterday and are trying to get consensus from a Caribbean perspective, how to respond to this. Our advice from CARPHA is that we should wait a bit to see what is happening and get scientific information before we make a decision. “
Two Caribbean countries have proceeded to restrict flights from the UK, namely Jamaica and Grenada.