The Ministry of Health on Saturday reported the deaths of two more persons who tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), taking the total number of confirmed deaths from the pandemic to 405.
The latest fatalities were identified by the ministry as a 76-year-old woman and a 41 year-old-man from Region Two (Pomeroon- Supenaam).They died while receiving care at a state medical facility.
In addition to the deaths, the ministry’s COVID-19 dashboard showed 158 new cases from 1,278 tests. It also showed a total of 1,862 active cases, comprising 1,738 persons in home isolation, 106 persons in institutional isolation and 18 persons in the COVID Intensive Care Unit.
Last month, Guyana recorded almost 100 COVID fatalities and over 3,600 new infections, which were the highest figures for a single month since the virus was first confirmed here.
Deadliest month
According to data compiled from the dashboard from the previous month, it was the deadliest month for the pandemic after surpassing the previous month just six days shy of the month’s end. Prior to that, April had held the record as the deadliest month with 66 fatalities being recorded.
The dashboard data also showed that Guyana’s total number of cases increased by 3,669 for the month, moving the country from 13,283 cases at the end of April to 16,952 cases at the end of May.
A majority of the cases for the month were recorded in Region Four, which confirmed 1,643 new cases, followed by Region Three with 485 cases and Region Six with 350 cases.
With the steady increase in deaths and infections, a number of persons have continued to call for stricter measures to curb the spread of the virus, including better enforcement. However, at the end of May the government made no change to the emergency measures, which were extended for June, 2021.
The administration has placed its faith in a national vaccination programme to steer the country out of the pandemic.
No infection or death reported among fully vaccinated persons
On Friday, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony noted that the ministry had not received any report of persons being infected with COVID-19 or dying after they were fully vaccinated. He said this was a good reason why persons should choose to get vaccinated. As of Friday morning, he said 73,471 persons, representing 15% of the country’s adult population, had been fully vaccinated.
Anthony also reported the results of a recent ministry survey, which found that less than 50% of 5,000 participants in several regions reported side effects after getting vaccinated against COVID-19.
Anthony further stated that so far there had been no reports of persons suffering from adverse effects after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine but noted that many have had some minor side effects and these subsided within a 24-hour period. Fever was the most common side effect.
He said the ministry conducted the survey in regions Four, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine and Ten with 5,000 participants to determine how many experienced side-effects and what type of side-effects they experienced after getting vaccinated against COVID-19.
“Of those 5,000 persons we have seen 44.4% reporting side effects and so 55.6% did not have any side effects,” he said before revealing that different age categories participated in survey. In the age 18 to 29 category, 17.9% had side effects; in the age 30 to 39 category, 18.7% did; 11.7% of those age 40 to 49; 15% of those age 50 to 59; and 36.7% of those 60 years and above.
Anthony said that the most common side effect was fever, with 75.4% of persons that had side effects saying that they experienced fever. He said that 41.2% had soreness or pain at the injection site, 37.2% had muscle or joint pains, 29.4% had a headache, 20.6% had tiredness or fatigue, 16% had chills, 11.7% had dizziness and 5.8% had nausea. “All of these side effects went away within a 24-hour period so we do see side effects but it’s a normal thing when we do vaccination,” he added.
