Covid positive cases increasing across the regions

-Minister Anthony says individuals must protect themselves

Minister of Health, Hon. Dr. Frank Anthony says there has been an increase in Covid positive cases across the regions and urges the public to observe the precautionary measures to reduce the risk of transmission.

The Minister said the onus is on every individual to protect him/herself from contracting the disease.

“Over the last 24 hours or so we would have had 147 persons who would have tested positive and currently, we are monitoring 1,866 active cases in all the regions of our country. Of those, we have 83 persons who are right now in hospital, and in the different regions we have seen a number of places that we deem as hotspots.

If we look at Region Three for example, Tuschen area is still considered to be a hot spot. We have currently 31 cases there. In Parfaite Harmonie, we have 24 cases; Vreed-en-Hoop, 21 cases; Canal Number Two, 17 cases,” he said in Friday’s COVID-19 update.

The numbers are similar in Region Four, which has the highest number of active cases.

“We have seen on the East Bank corridor that you have 46 cases at Diamond. Grove, we have about 30 active cases.  Herstelling, 28 cases. So, you have a very active area so to speak,” he said.

Dr. Anthony said even as the Government puts interventions in place to curb transmission of the disease, this upward trend will continue if persons flout the gazetted safety measures.

“Over the last couple of weeks, we have seen a consistent number of cases coming from these areas. In Georgetown, we are monitoring Sophia-25 active cases right now; Kitty with 18, La Penitence 17, so these are the more active areas in Georgetown… On the East Coast we continue to monitor the Mon Repos area – 15 cases, Nonpareil, about 16 cases.

If people are not abiding by the simple rules that we put out and that is to wear a face mask, keep distancing and so forth, we are going to have spread and once people relax those rules … then they are going to get exposed and ultimately, they are going to get sick,” he said.

Minister Anthony said there have been spikes in cases in Regions Six, with 77 cases in New Amsterdam and 30 cases at Skeldon.  In Bartica, Region Seven, 81 persons are being monitored. In Region Nine, 31 cases have been recorded at Gunns village and 31 at Parabara.  In Region 10, health officers are monitoring 47 cases at Amelia’s Ward and 44 at Wismar.

Minister Anthony said it is imperative that people take personal responsibility for their health.

“It can’t be by now that you don’t understand the need for a mask. We have been talking for the last eight months or so, the need for masking and how that protects you.

I doubt that there is anybody that can claim they don’t understand how masks work and how it could protect you,” he added.

Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony said masking in public and all of the other gazetted measures are still necessary in Guyana. The Minister made this statement in the wake of an announcement by the US Government that persons who are fully immunised can forgo masks.

Minister Anthony said more persons have to be fully immunised here before adjustments to the measures can be made as the epidemiological situation is different.