262 COVID-19 deaths, 72 persons hospitalised
The number of critically ill COVID-19 patients have increased in recent weeks 74 persons of which 15 are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Infectious Diseases Hospital at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara.
Health Minister Dr. Frank Anthony on Wednesday stated that “the people who are coming into hospital, they’re much sicker and therefore we have more difficulties in managing these complicated patients when they come at this late stage to the ICU.”
Guyana has so far recorded 262 COVID-19 deaths including two persons –a 76-year-old man from Region Four and a 86-year-old man from Region Ten –who died on Wednesday.
The Minister disclosed that nine persons are hospitalised at the West Demerara Regional Hospital, three at the New Amsterdam Hospital, three at the Linden Hospital and the remainder at Liliendaal.
Despite an increase in hospitalization and deaths, the number of cases continue to increase daily in some areas in Region Four including South Ruimveldt, Kitty and Campbellville Georgetown, Good Hope and Lusignan on the East Coast of Demerara and the areas of Diamond, Herstelling and Eccles on the East Bank of Demerara.
“Across the East Coast, across Georgetown, across the East Bank there are cases. So we might have one or two cases in every community but those areas that I mention, we have in excess of 10-15 cases,” Dr. Anthony said.
He urged persons to take precautions as the hospital is slowly becoming overwhelmed with patients. The Minister pointed out that “some people believe that somehow over the last year or so they haven’t become infected that…they’re somehow invincible to the disease. This is not so. If are not wearing your masks and keeping your distance and doing the wrong thing, at some point you are going to get infected.”
On Wednesday, the Ministry recorded 97 new cases of which 55 were recorded in Region Four.
Twenty of the other cases were recorded in Region Three followed by five each in Regions Two and Six.
The Ministry is currently rolling out its immunization programme for persons over 40 years old and frontline workers. To date, 67, 524 persons have received their first dose of the AstraZeneca, Sinopharm or Sputnik V vaccines.
