THE local Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) death toll continues to climb, as the country lost yet another person to the deadly disease, on Sunday.

The latest COVID-19 victim was identified as 76-year-old, May Portsmouth, who died while receiving treatment at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
It is unclear when she contracted the disease or whether she was in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU), but Portsmouth became the fourth person to die from the disease in one week.

Health authorities have tested some 2,889 persons to date, with 2,611 of those persons being negative and 278 positive. Of the positive cases, some 121 persons have recovered and 16 persons have died, but there are 152 active cases of which 142 are in institutional isolation and ten in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

The Guyana Chronicle had reported that the COVID-19 disease has proven to be a “real killer,” especially in cases involving persons who have co-morbidities. This was according to doctors of the GPHC. At that time, Guyana had recorded six deaths due to the COVID-19 disease and while the loss of life is never pleasant, doctors had said most of the persons who died had co-morbidities.

In medicine, comorbidity is defined as the presence of one or more additional conditions co-occurring with a primary condition; in the countable sense of the term, a comorbidity is each additional condition. The World Health Organisation (WHO) had said that 81 per cent of persons who contract COVID-19 will have mild symptoms, while 14 per cent will have severe symptoms and five per cent will need intensive care.

“Most of the people who passed, have [sic] co-morbidities…some had diabetes, hypertension, asthma and one of them even had severe pneumonia, which, without COVID-19, can also cause death… these, coupled with the complications related to COVID-19, can be dangerous,” said Head of the Department of Internal Medicine at GPHC, Dr.. Genellys Camps, during a past interview with the Guyana Chronicle.

Among the persons who lost their lives to the deadly disease were 25-year-old teacher, Donna Ambrose Greaves; 34-year-old Abdool Khan, a resident of Bartica, who was asthmatic; local drag racer, Deryck Jaisingh, called ‘Mad Dog.’

Guyana’s first COVID-19 victim, 52-year-old, Ratna Baboolall, was also hypertensive and a diabetic. Jermaine Ifill, an emergency medical technician (EMT), who had also succumbed to the dreaded COVID-19, was also being treated for pneumonia.

Two other persons who died from the disease were OSA Collins, a 78-year-old resident of New Amsterdam; and 77-year-old, Colonel John Percy Leon Lewis. Forty-five-year-old, Lennox Williams, who also had underlying conditions, also died because of COVID-19. And most recently, a diabetic patient, 67-year-old, Samuel Morris, also lost his life.

Considering the local situation, Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence, had said the ministry will continue to plead with all Guyanese to intensify efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19 by practising social distancing, staying at home, wearing face masks and regularly and thoroughly washing hands.