61-yr-old man latest Covid-19 fatality

…death toll now at 138

Guyana has recorded its 138th Covid-19 death as the country continues to grapple with the dreaded disease.

The latest fatality is a 61-year-old male from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) who died while receiving care at a medical facility.

Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony on Wednesday called on citizens to carefully consider their decisions to leave home as the nation’s senior secondary and TVET students and teachers have returned to the classroom.

“The reality is we are in a pandemic, but life still goes on. Even our children are going through it and they have to continue their education, and Government has put special measures to facilitate this. We are asking everyone to play their part, show concern for our children.

When we talk about social distance, I guess our understanding is that we stay six feet from each other, but social distance in a broader sense, also means if you don’t have to be at a function, or generally out in public, then stay indoors because you’re contributing to being part of a crowd when you go out for non-essential purposes,” the Minister said.
Dr. Anthony reiterated his call for all stakeholders to work collectively to combat COVID-19.

“I can’t direct anyone how to live because I don’t know their specific circumstance, but there are some simple things we can do: if going to the supermarkets, try scheduling shopping days and utilise delivery if possible and affordable; try grocery carpooling where we co-ordinate with other relatives and neighbours; and assist older persons instead of them going out,” he suggested while cautioning against crowds.

Additionally, the Minister of Health reminded that flouting COVID-19 guidelines has dire consequences.
“As we head into the Christmas season, I think a lot of people feel that it’s time for jollification and therefore, we can suspend the rules in a pandemic. If we suspend the rules, we are going to do that to our detriment because we will see more cases, we’ll see spikes and we will see deaths. So, if we want to prevent that, that power is in our hands,” Minister Anthony said while noting that obeying the preventative measures is the only surety to reduce the chances of contracting the disease.