GUYANA has lost yet another precious life to the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), taking the total number of COVID-19-related deaths to 20.
The Guyana Chronicle understands that the victim is a female from a hinterland community, but further details were unavailable on Friday.
In just over a month, the country has recorded eight deaths and a consistent rise in the number of COVID-19 cases. There are over 150 active cases, with four of those cases being treated in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Among those who died recently are 74-year-old Milton Paul; Geerjadai Jagnarine; and 76-year-old May Portsmouth.
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 the virus 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 whose demise were ruled co-morbid 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, a diabetic patient, 67-year-old Samuel Morris, also lost his life.