Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jan 09, 2022 News
– 12 deaths already recorded
Kaieteur News – After battling COVID-19 for two straight years, the nation glided into 2022, with some level of optimism since our number of fatalities amounted to only 1,054, with cases trickling in. But that state of affairs took a drastic turn, within days of the new year, when the rate of infection started increasing at an unprecedented rate.
While, based on the Ministry of Health records, there were a total of 39,779 infections by the end of the first seven days of the month, the cases had increased by more than 3,000 bringing the national total to over 43,000.
According to the Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, on Friday, there are currently 4,295 active cases in the country. A breakdown of the active cases in the country shows that 29 are in Region One, 74 in Region Two, 351 in Region Three, 2,789 in Region Four, 89 in Region Five, 438 in Region Six, 113 in Region Seven, one in Region Eight, 208 in Region Nine and 203 in Region 10.
Of course, deaths have been constant with 12 already recorded for this year, bringing the grand total at the time of writing this article to 1066. Although the death rate is currently not alarming (though we can all agree that even one death per day is far too many), it is worrying that people, even at this juncture, are resistant to taking the vaccine which has thus far proven to be effective. The Ministry’s records reveal that half of the fatalities for this year were unvaccinated – four women (a 79-year-old and 62-year-old from Region 6 – East Berbice-Corentyne, a 69-year-old from Region 9 – Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo, and a 60-year-old from Region 3 – Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) and two men (a 62-year-old from Region 2 – Pomeroon-Supenaam and a 66-year-old from Region 7 – Cuyuni-Mazaruni).
Of the remaining fatalities four were fully vaccinated men (a 60-year-old from Region Four – Demerara-Mahaica, a 38-year-old, a 47-year-old and a 70-year-old from Region 6 – East Berbice- Corentyne), a fully vaccinated 48-year-old woman and a partially vaccinated 42-year-old man, both from Region Four.
As mentioned before, the increase in cases has been alarming and this translated during the past week to 206 recorded on January 1, 281 on January 2, 94 on January 3, 485 on January 4, 779 on January 5, 967 on January 6, and 844 on January 7. Based on information released by the Ministry, the alarming numbers, which started on January 4, were recorded within a 24-hour period.
The staggering increase in cases has raised suspicions that the Omicron COVID-19 variant is here, which, according to Emergency Medicine Specialist attached to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, Dr. Zulfikar Bux, has, thus far, proven to be especially contagious but not as life threatening as the Delta variant.
His belief was embraced by the Health Minister at a press conference during the past week where they shared the spotlight with President Irfaan Ali and other top medical officials in the country. According to Minister Anthony, “based on the current epidemiology, what we are seeing, we believe strongly that Omicron is here. From the 28 of December right onto now, we have seen a doubling of the cases, so on the 28 of December we had about 40 cases and as of today (Wednesday last) we have had (over 700) cases within the last 24 hours. These numbers are going to go up. Fortunately, most of the people that tested positive have mild symptoms, some of them are asymptomatic and we have not seen an explosion of hospitalisation.”
The President also sought to reassure the nation that his government has not only the capacity, but capabilities needed to deal with the situation as it emerges even as he encouraged hesitant persons to get vaccinated. “What we’ve learnt so far from the science and experiences is that vaccination with booster minimises the impact of this new variant… We don’t have control over the new variant and how it will operate but we have control over our own actions,” the President asserted.
Although the remainder of this month is likely to be a challenge for health officials, Dr. Bux is convinced that with two years of dealing with COVID-19 under their belts, there should be no need to panic. But health officials cannot do it alone. As such Dr. Bux too, is encouraging not only vaccine uptake but uptake of booster shots as well for those who are eligible, as announced by the Health Ministry.
Towards the end of last year, the Ministry announced the start of its booster shot campaign and had only identified a select group of people, including persons 50 years and older, frontline workers and persons with co-morbidity, as eligible. However, with the advent of the infectious Omicron variant, the Minister had noted that this could be revised.
While there may be quite a few persons now opting to be vaccinated, Dr. Bux made it clear that the effects of vaccines are usually not realised until two weeks after.
In the meantime, though, he said that since the most transmissible Omicron variant appears to infect the upper respiratory tract, a tactical way of decreasing the viral load is to wear a mask. This, according to the medical professional, will help to prevent persons from developing severe symptoms. Mask wearing and other measures such as sanitising and social distancing, complemented by “foods high in Vitamins such as Vitamin C, D and Zinc or supplements”, Dr. Bux said, can help to prevent the worst form of the disease, thereby reducing the need for hospitalisation and by extension easing the pressure on those within the healthcare system.
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
Mar 28, 2024
Minister Ramson challenge athletes to better last year’s performance By Rawle Toney Kaieteur Sports – Guyana’s 23-member contingent for the CARIFTA Games in Grenada is set to depart the...B.V. Police Station Kaieteur News – The Beterverwagting Police Station, East Coast Demerara (ECD) will be reconstructed... more
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News – In the face of escalating global environmental challenges, water scarcity and... more
Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]