Significant rise in Covid-19 cases as a result of holiday season

As the holiday season is nearing its culmination point, Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, on
Friday urged Guyanese to increase their levels of adherence to the COVID-19 protocols, as a
significant climb in cases has been recorded over the last few days.
Minister Anthony, in giving the number of active cases the country has seen over the last 48
hours, noted that this has indicated a noticeable jump in positive cases. He implied that persons
have been flunking COVID-19 protocols and exposing themselves to infection. “Over the last
day or two, we have seen an increase in cases. Yesterday, we have seen 161 new cases. Today
we have 182 new cases,” Dr Anthony highlighted.
The minister in further breaking down the statistics, pointed out that there are several hotspots, as
COVID-19 cases have been spread out across the country during this increased period. He listed
these hotspots as:
 South Ruimveldt
 Providence
 Eccles
 Diamond
 Wismar
 New Amsterdam
 Lethem
The health minister continued his passionate plea for citizens to remain cognisant of the fact that
the pandemic is still in full swing, and people must guard themselves at all times, as ignorance of
this will only allow the surge in cases to continue. “We have to be careful, because the doubling
time is much shorter with these cases and, unfortunately, if this trend continues, we will have to
brace ourselves for more cases,” he urged.
Dr Anthony declared that if this does become the case, the healthcare system has already begun
putting systems in place to expand its hospital accommodation. He added that there are currently
34 persons in hospital, with six of these persons in the Intensive Care Unit at the Ocean View
Hospital.