THE dreaded Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) has claimed the life of 67-year-old Geerjadai Jagnarine, making her the 17th person here to have lost their life to the disease.
This newspaper was reliably informed that Jagnarine was being treated for COVID-19 at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), but was deemed stable and recently transferred to the West Demerara Regional Hospital.

The Guyana Chronicle understands that the patient was stable, despite having uncontrolled Diabetes, High Blood Pressure and Hypothyroidism.
It is, however, unclear what happened while the patient was at the West Demerara Hospital, but her demise was confirmed by the Ministry of Public Health on Saturday as having been COVID-19-related.

Jagnarine became the fifth person to lose their life to the disease in a short space of time, with the prior victim being 76-year-old May Portsmouth, who died while receiving treatment at the GPHC.

The Guyana Chronicle had earlier 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 the 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, co-morbidity 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) has said that 81 per cent of the persons who contract COVID-19 will have mild symptoms, while 14 per cent will have severe symptoms, and another 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 those who lost their lives to the deadly disease are, 25-year-old Lethem schoolteacher, Donna Ambrose-Greaves; 34-year-old Abdool Khan, a resident of Bartica, who was asthmatic; and 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 disease, 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, died because of COVID-19. And most recently, a diabetic patient, 67-year-old Samuel Morris, also lost his life.

It was last reported that Guyana has so far recorded 290 positive cases of the Coronavirus to date. There are 140 active cases of the virus, while 134 persons have recovered from the ailment.