…hospitalisation on the increase
As the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic spirals out of control in Guyana, the country is not only seeing an increase in cases but also an increase in hospitalisation with many patients now requiring assistance to breathe.
As of Wednesday, April 7, the country had recorded a total of 10,718 cases of the virus of which 81 were new cases. Seventy (70) persons were in institutional isolation while another 916 persons in home isolation. To date, 250 persons have died from the virus here in Guyana.
In providing an update on the pandemic, Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony told the Department of Public Information (DPI), on Wednesday, that the situation is worrying.
“As of today, we have about 70 persons in hospitals; we have 54 at the Ocean View Hospital, we have persons at the Linden Hospital, West Demerara Hospital and the New Amsterdam Hospital. So in our regional hospital we now have more COVID patients coming into them because they require assistance in breathing,” the Health Minister explained.
Of the 54 persons at the Infectious Diseases (Ocean View) Hospital at Lilliandaal, approximately 12 persons are in the Intensive Care Unit, according to the Health Minister. “We are seeing more cases coming to us, and out of those who have been hospitalized, a percentage of them are much sicker. They will have to get ICU care,” he said.
It was noted too that more and more cases are being detected in Regions Three, Four and Seven.
Across the world, there have been several waves of the virus with more variants of the virus being detected, however, the Health Minister said that at this stage, it is unclear what variant is present in Guyana, if any.
“We don’t know because while we would have sent 10 samples to CARPHA for genetic sequencing, the results 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,” the Health Minister explained.
With samples readily available, Dr. Anthony said the Health Ministry is putting systems in place to have additional testing done to determine what variants of the virus are present here.
“We are hoping that we can do more with CARPHA, but those arrangements, we will have to put them in place,” he said.
The Brazil variant (also known as P.1), the UK or Kent variant (also known as B.1.1.7) and the South Africa variant (B.1.351) are among the news variants detected in recent times.
The Health Minister said it is important for persons living in Guyana to take the necessary precautions to suppress the spread of the virus. “We are encouraging people to adhere to the public health measures and take precautions because we have seen a lot of people who are not abiding by the rules, not wearing masks and so forth, and because of these breaches, you are going to continue to have spread,” he warned.
It was noted that the National COVID-19 Task Force is working with the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Defence Force to have stricter enforcement of the COVID-19 Emergency Measures, which include a 10:30pm to 4 am curfew, a ban on social gatherings such as parties, the need for physical distancing and he use of face masks when out in the public.
