Minister Anthony urges public to obey Covid guidelines
-more people becoming sicker, faster
Minister of Health, Hon. Dr. Frank Anthony is urging the public to take additional precautions in the wake of a surge in COVID-19 infections over the last month.
During Wednesday’s COVID-19 update, the Minister said while there is no evidence that there are new Covid variants in Guyana, persons are suffering more severe symptoms.
“As it pertains to what variant or variants we have in Guyana, we don’t know, because while we would have sent 10 samples for genetic sequencing, the result of those samples did not come back specifying that we have any of the newer variants. So, we still don’t know what variants we have in Guyana and we can only know that if it is confirmed by genetic sequencing.
We have seen an uptick of more cases… We have seen those cases in Region Four, Region Three and Region Seven, and out of seeing more cases, we have started seeing more hospitalisations,” he said.
There are now 70 persons hospitalised for COVID-19. Of this lot, 54 are hospitalised at the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention at Liliendaal, 12 of whom are in the Intensive Care Unit.
Minister Anthony said other patients are warded at the Linden Hospital Complex in Region 10, New Amsterdam Public Hospital in Region Six, and the West Demerara Regional Hospital in Region Three.
He also noted that the regional hospitals are recording more COVID-19 patients, many of whom require assistance to breathe.
Minister Anthony said arrangements are currently being made for continued genetic sequencing testing at other laboratories beyond the Caribbean, however, nothing has yet been finalised. In the meantime, he said those samples are being preserved for future use.
“We have samples because when we swab patients whether for doing the PCR tests and so forth, we are able to collect the samples,” he added.
Dr. Anthony hopes to do some more testing with the Trinidad-based Caribbean Public Health Laboratory (CARPHA) and arrangements are being put in place.
COVID-19 is said to be constantly mutating. So far, scientists have discovered several variants in the United States, United Kingdom, South Africa and neighbouring Brazil. The South American country currently has the P.1 and P.2 variants, which reportedly spread faster.
In the wake of this, Minister Anthony is again urging the public to observe the gazetted COVID-19 precautionary measures. People should wear masks in public, wash or sanitise their hands frequently and practice social distancing.