In a year, Guyana records 218 COVID deaths; then 25 more in the last 10 days

– 40 new cases were detected on Sunday
– 40,000 people to be vaccinated this week

Guyana recorded its first COVID-19 death on March 25, 2020 and in one year, a total of 218 people suffered the deadly virus. But then, within 10 days of the second year, 25 shocking deaths were recorded taking the death toll to a staggering 243.
During the past three days, 10 people surrendered while undergoing treatment at various medical facilities.
In fact, the Ministry of Health has reported that six people – four men and two women – died on Saturday, April 3, 2021. These include a 28-year-old man from Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam); an 81-year-old girl from Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni); a 73-year-old from Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), and a 62-year-old man from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) along with the two women, an 83-year-old and a 52-year-old girl – both from Demerara-Mahaica.
A 45-year-old girl from Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) and a 26-year-old man from Region Three (Essequibo-West Demerara Islands) were also pronounced dead on Friday, April 2. Two other people, both males – 62 years old, died from Region Three and a 45-year-old from Region Four – on Thursday, April 1.
All 10 of these deaths were recorded within the first four days of April. In March, some 36 people who tested positive for the novel coronavirus died, making it the second most deadly month since the virus surfaced in Guyana. The most deadly month was September 2020 with 38 deaths.
The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Guyana has increased to 10,580 on Sunday. This is after 40 more people tested positive for the virus from around 928 tests carried out within a 24 hour period.
There are now active cases in the country in 1161 of which 12 are patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the remaining 1149 people separately, that is, 74 separate institutional and the 1075 other than home.
There are also 10 people in institutional quarantine.
While the COVID-19 death toll continues to climb, the number of people who have recovered from the life-threatening disease has also increased. A total of 9250 people have recovered so far – 35 more recoveries than the figure reported the previous day.
To date Guyana has tested about 93,465 people for the new coronavirus, of which 5402 men and 5178 women were found to be positive.
Of the 40 new cases detected on Sunday, one was from Pomeroon-Supenaam, 21 cases from Region Four, eight from East Berbice-Corentyne; nine from Region Seven and one case from Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
The figures in the other five regions remained the same.
In the meantime, in order to curb the spread of the virus and reduce the country’s death toll, Guyana continues to aggressively roll out its vaccination campaign.
According to the Ministry of Health on Sunday, since the practice began in February, about 40,468 COVID-19 vaccines have been given nationwide including several dose doses.
Last week, Guyana exceeded 3000 vaccinations in a day on three occasions. The highest number of vaccinations was recorded in the three most populous regions – Demerara-Mahaica, East Berbice-Corentyne and the Essequibo-West Demerara Islands, respectively.
The smallest numbers were recorded in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni), followed by Region 10 and Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Essequibo Upper). Only these three regions have recorded fewer than 1000 vaccinations so far.
Nevertheless, the Ministry is looking to ramp up the introduction of the vaccine and has set a target of 40,000 first-dose injections to be given along with hundreds of second doses. As such, more than 100 fixed and mobile site teams will be giving first and second doses of the vaccine starting Tuesday, April 6.
People aged 40 or over are eligible for the injection. These include all health workers, teachers, members of the Joint Services, public servants as well as Private Sector employees.
To date, Guyana has received 3000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from Barbados, another 80,000 doses of the same vaccine from India and 20,000 doses of Sinopharm from China.
More recently, the country received its first tranche of COVID-19 vaccines from the COVAX facility – 24,000 doses of AstraZeneca, followed by 25,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine, which the Government purchased through the United Arab Emirates (UAE). United), from Russia. This batch of the Russian-manufactured injection is part of a 200,000 order that Guyana has made to the tune of US $ 4 million.