Guyana has recorded its largest spike in the number of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases, with 21 more persons being confirmed as having tested positive yesterday.
The results, which were announced by Chief Medical Officer Dr. Shamdeo Persaud, represent the highest number of new cases to be announced in a single day in Guyana and come after testing for the virus resumed following an issue at the National Public Health Reference Laboratory.
Guyana has now officially recorded 205 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the outbreak in the country in March. There are now 90 active cases, which account for the number of persons who are in institutional isolation and 24 persons are in institutional quarantine facilities.
During the Public Health Ministry’s COVID-19 update yesterday, Persaud revealed that the new cases emerged from 39 tests done during the latest testing cycle.
According to the ministry’s Public Relations Officer, Terrence Esseboom, the new cases that were recorded hail from regions One, Seven and Nine as Guyana continues to record “cluster cases”. This newspaper has been told that 18 of the new cases are from Region One, which brings the total number of cases recorded in the region to 46, making it the region with the second highest number of cases recorded. Region Four remains the region with the most cases.
Testing has resumed after a problem at the National Public Health Laboratory and this newspaper was told yesterday that some of the tests done during this cycle were from samples which were collected last week. How-ever, public health officials did not confirm these reports to Stabroek News.
The total number of persons tested to date stands at 2,147.
The number of persons who have recovered from the disease remains at 103.
Persaud stated during the ministry’s update yesterday that Region Nine has now recorded its second case of COVID-19 as he urged residents of the region along with those in regions One, Seven and Eight to be cautious as they are extremely vulnerable since the neighbouring countries also continue to record a high number of new cases.
Persaud urged those persons to stop cross-border movements and even prevent migrant persons from entering their communities.
Given the rise in cases in hinterland regions, concerns have been raised about whether there are adequate isolation facilities in those regions and if provisions are being made to have more facilities available. In a brief interview with Stabroek News, Deputy Director of the Health Emergency Opera-tions Centre Dr. Leston Payne yesterday revealed that the Health Emergency Operations Centre (HEOC) is currently coordinating a plan to make use of pre-fabricated housing units which were recently donated to Guyana in those regions. He noted that the housing units were specifically for those regions as those units are mobile and can be quickly set up.
He added, “It’s something that is mobile, something that can [be] set up quick. We just transport it so in case in these regions we see a spike in the cases or we see the epicentre extending and there is more need for institutional quarantine or isolation, we can set up those pre-fab buildings so we can house the patients.”
Meanwhile, Persaud noted that Guyana continues to see a constant increase in the number of positive cases and as a result he urged members of the public to adhere to the emergency health guidelines even as the country is in the midst of phase one of its re-opening plan. He also noted that a mobile testing unit will once again be deployed in Georgetown at the Merriman Mall for persons who feel like they need to be tested.
