A 34-year-old male of the North West District, Region One (Barima-Waini) has lost his life to the dreaded novel coronavirus, making him the 19th person to die here from the disease.

The Guyana Chronicle was reliably informed that the victim was a patient of the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU), at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).

This newspaper understands that the man had undergone a surgery and was being treated in the unit after authorities found him to be positive for COVID-19. And, despite the valiant effort by medical professionals to save his life, the man could not recover and died on Wednesday.

Prior to knowledge of the man’s death, on Wednesday, the Ministry of Public Health had reported the death of a 74-year-old resident of Georgetown, Milton Paul, who became the 18th COVID-19 victim. Authorities said the man also died while receiving treatment at GPHC, on Sunday.

As seen in recent days, there has been a consistent increase in cases of the disease and also deaths caused by the disease. In addition to the two recent deaths, there were five deaths in a short space of time. Less than a week ago, Geerjadai Jagnarine lost her life to the disease and the prior victim was 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 313 positive cases of the coronavirus. There are 139 active cases of the virus, while 156 persons have recovered from the ailment.