Gov’t focusing on preventing Covid deaths – Dr. Anthony

Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony MP, says the Government is focusing on the prevention of COVID-19 deaths.

During Friday’s covid update, Minister Anthony said health experts are assuming that all the strains of the Coronavirus are in Guyana, and as such all adults should be vaccinated.

He said however, that the only method to ascertain whether other variants of the virus are in Guyana is through genomic sequencing. Genomic sequencing is a scientific analysis which would detect if the disease is different from its initial form.

Minister Anthony said while it is an important element, it is not a priority of Government at this time, since the treatment remains the same for all COVID-19 variants.

“One can assume, that we have different types or variants that are circulating in Guyana and would have contributed to the clinical picture that we are seeing here. So, not only did we have more deaths, we are seeing more people being hospitalised during this period and a percentage of them would have died,” Minster Anthony said.

As of July 15, Guyana recorded 506 deaths from COVID-19.

However, persons who died as a result of the disease were not fully vaccinated. As such, Minister Anthony is urging all adults to take the jab.

Many persons have already taken their vaccines, Minister Anthony said.

“As of yesterday, we have 241,680 persons with their first dose vaccine, which would be 49.6 per cent of our adult population. In terms of second dose, we are now at 126,620. So, 126 620, persons who would have received their second dose vaccine. So, this is now would bring us to about 26 per cent of our adult population is now fully immunised.”

Government is aiming to have at least 500,000 adults vaccinated for Guyana to reach herd immunity, and has been making all efforts to ensure there are enough vaccines for all adults.

When herd immunity is achieved, the spread of the disease would decrease, which would set the stage for the gradual return of the country to some level of normalcy.