847 New Covid 19 cases recorded overnight, 25-39 age group mainly affected

The total number of Covid-19 cases in Guyana has moved up to 4,295 as 847 more people tested positive for the virus within the last 24 hours.

Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, M.P., during the daily Covid-19 update on Friday noted that, a large number of the positive cases were of people within the 25-39 age group.

“Of the 847 cases, 489 were from this age grouping of 25-39. If we extend that to say 25 to 44 years of age, then it would be 589 persons.”

“We are seeing these cases in this younger grouping that is really mobile, moving around from place to place probably going to the bars and restaurants and things like that. They are the ones we are seeing are getting infected,” the health minister added.

The 15-19 age group recorded 26 positive cases, the 10-14 age group recorded 22, and the 5-9 age group recorded about 21 new cases within the last 24 hours.

Vaccination numbers have gone up slightly with the total number of vaccinated adults at 413,376 for first dose and 298,954 for second dose. For adolescents 30,829 have taken the first dose while 21,957 have taken both doses.

Booster shots have increased to 15,396.

The Minister also reiterated that the vaccines are safe and since vaccination began, apart from the mild side effects that are expected and which subside within 24 hours, no adverse effects were reported.

“We didn’t have any adverse effects, we have put in place a system to monitor all our vaccination sites to see whether or not persons would present with any adverse effects, but so far with all the vaccinations that we have given we didn’t record any adverse effects,” he said.

Local health authorities are obligated by international rules that if anything is found, it is required to report same to the international system, but there has been nothing to report.

Minister Anthony also noted that the supply of Johnson and Johnson vaccines is currently low due to many persons taking the vaccine, however a shipment of 40, 000 doses is expected later this month.