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…ministry examining boosting capacity at Ocean View
Guyana currently has over 1,900 active cases of COVID-19, 222 new cases and 34 persons in the COVID-19 ICU. On Tuesday, the number of new cases stood at 145 with 33 persons in the ICU.
According to Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, if the number of new cases keeps rising, Guyana’s hospitals can become overwhelmed.
“The numbers are climbing. We’re seeing more people getting infected and it is also very worrying because if we don’t manage this carefully, our hospitals can easily become overwhelmed. We can accommodate about 200 persons at Ocean View…we have capacity for about 40 in the ICU,” he said during the COVID-19 update on Tuesday.
Giving its capacity and the high number of new cases, Minister Anthony said that the Ocean View COVID-19 Hospital is working to increase its capacity by another 10 beds to accommodate at least 50 in the ICU. In the case that there are still more patients, the possibility of adding 50 more beds is also be being examined
The Minister said: “It is going to be challenging going forward as we get more and more hospitalizations. We have already spoken about other contingencies where we might have to – if it becomes necessary – close some of the services at other hospitals and convert those hospitals solely for COVID patients. So, if it becomes necessary that is what we will have to do and then, of course, we will activate the field hospital as well.”
Thus far over 313,000 have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine representing over 61.1 percent of the adult population. Over 161,000 have received their second dose.
Under the new COVID-19 Emergency Measures, all persons – including staff – entering Government Ministries, Government Agencies, restaurants, cinemas, betting shops and gyms are expected to be vaccinated or present a negative PCR test.
