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By Svetlana Marshall
In an attempt to allay the fears of Guyanese amid a steep increase in COVID-19 cases, President Irfaan Ali and Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, said there has not been an “explosion” in hospitalizations and that citizens should not panic.
“Although we have high positivity ratio now; more people testing positive now; when you look at the translated effect in terms of hospitalisation, we do not have that steep increase in hospitalisation,” President Ali said while acknowledging that the situation can change at any time.
President Ali, at the time, was speaking at a virtual press conference on Wednesday. According to him, there is no need to panic since it is known that the Omicron Variant, which is said to be in Guyana along with Delta, is a super spreader resulting in a greater degree of transmission. He said, however, it is scientifically proven that vaccination with booster, minimises the impact of the virus.
“Some describe it as minimal to the point of being mild but we have also learnt that those who are not vaccinated need to take additional precautions for themselves, their families, and their communities,” he said while underscoring the importance for persons to wear their masks.
Sitting alongside the President, the Health Minister reported that since December 28, 2021 Guyana has been experiencing a spike in cases with 788 cases recorded within the last 24 hours – pushing the total number of confirmed cases to well over 41, 000. He has warned that the numbers will go up. A number of health personnel including doctors and nurses have also become infected with the virus – a situation that is being carefully managed by the Health Authorities, according to President Ali.
President Ali’s press conference was held hours after the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) slammed the Government for poorly managing the pandemic – a situation the party said has resulted in the alarming rise in cases. But President Ali told the press, that the situation is no different in other parts of the world. “What we are faced with is what the entire global community is faced with. This morning I spoke to a number of Prime Ministers in the Region, and the report is the same, there is greater positive results among the population but all the focus is on managing the healthcare system, ensuring that our facilities are there, ensuring that our health personnel are protected to the extent that the healthcare system remains functional, and we don’t have difficulties,” the President explained.
Milder symptoms
Like President Ali, the Health Minister said notwithstanding the significant jump in cases, the majority of the infected persons are experiencing milder symptoms.
“Fortunately for the people who have tested positive, most of them, if not all of them, have mild symptoms, some of them are asymptomatic and we have not seen an explosion of hospitalisations,” the Health Minister said.
However, he noted that persons with comorbidities stand the risk of being hospitalized if infected. It was noted too that many of the more severe infections are as a result of the Delta Variant. While the PNCR has contended that the country is experiencing a shortage of test kits resulting in a closure of a number of testing sites, the Health Minister, while refuting such a claim, acknowledged that persons, in recent days, have been rushing to testing sites.
Dr. Anthony said persons who believe that they may have been exposed to the virus, should wait four to five days before getting tested. However, he made it clear that the country has testing capacity.
“At the National Public Health Reference Lab we have a capacity to do at a minimum, 2,000 tests in 24 hours, that’s PCR tests. We also have in all of our regional hospitals, the capability of testing and in addition to that we have antigen tests that are available and with those antigen tests you get back your results within a 15-20-minute period, and so we have the capability,” the Health Minister reported.
He said the Health Ministry has also equipped a number of hospitals with the requisite resources in the event there is an increase in hospitalisation. “At the Ocean View Hospital, we have capabilities of hosting 195 patients. Right now we have 36 patients in the hospital with five of those patients in the ICU, so we still have a lot of capabilities there, and in all of our regional hospitals, we have built capacity to be able to manage COVID-19 patients,” he further reported.
Both the Government and the Opposition are encouragingpersons in Guyana to adhere to the public health guidelines. Persons are encouraged to social distance, wear their masks, and get vaccinated to safeguard themselves from the virus.
