Doctor, nurses among COVID-19 patients in Berbice. 

As of Tuesday, August 26, 2020, the national figures stood at 1,060 for coronavirus cases after the initial one in March of this year and of that number,

Region Six, East Berbice-Corentyne has added to 13 positive cases to help make up the overall national figure while 60 pending results are still outstanding.

Among those 13 cases, are 2 nurses and 1 doctor who are attached to the New Amsterdam Hospital and came into contact with an East Canje woman who was a patient at the said hospital and was later tested positive for the virus.

During a press conference at the Regional Democratic Council Office on Tuesday morning, Chairman David Armogan said he is working collaboratively with the Ministry of Public Health as the Region seeks to battle the virus holistically.

He further stated that a testing machine and two ventilators are expected to be sent to the region soon which will see at least one testing site be placed within East Berbice-Corentyne for quicker results, as opposed to testing and waiting 6-10 days for the results to return from Georgetown.

“The tests would take one week to 10 days to return, and that is because of the number of persons that are being tested now throughout the country. So the one lab that we have is becoming inundated with the numbers, and they are having difficulties dealing with the number of tests they have to do within a 24-hour period.”  The chairman noted.

According to him, while there are persons who are asymptomatic, it can be very dangerous for others, who are unaware of the person coronavirus status who may be next to them and that is why it remains important for each person to wear a mask.

Thus far, eleven persons are in institutional quarantine and 15, through contact tracing, are now on home quarantine. 8 persons are in institutional isolation.

Following the 3 positive cases with the health officials at the New Amsterdam Hospital, a number of other health workers attached to the said hospital have since undergone COVID-19 tests and have tested negative for the virus.

Persons are reminded to obey the guidelines that were set out by the Ministry of Health to combat the fight of the novel coronavirus