By Navendra Seoraj

AN elderly diabetic patient, Aron Peters, has fallen victim to the dreaded Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), becoming the 24th person to die from the disease in Guyana.
The 87-year-old man, from Grove, East Bank of Demerara (EBD), was the second person to die within the past 48 hours, due to complications from the disease.
The Guyana Chronicle was reliably informed that Peters, who was diabetic and suffered from hypertension, succumbed while receiving treatment in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
This newspaper understands that the man was a patient of the unit for over a week, and despite efforts to save him, he died on Monday.
As seen in recent days, there has been a consistent increase in cases of the disease and deaths caused by the disease. Among the persons who died in recent times are 73-year-old, Wilfred James; 74-year-old, Milton Paul; Geerjadai Jagnarine, 69; and 76-year-old May Portsmouth, who died while receiving treatment at the GPHC.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus. Most people, who fall sick with COVID-19, will experience mild to moderate symptoms and recover without special treatment. There are, however, vulnerable groups such as persons with underlying conditions and elderly patients, who may develop the severe forms of the disease.
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 co-morbidity is each additional condition. The World Health Organization (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 an interview with 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.
COVID-19 remains a serious issue not just here in Guyana, but globally as well, and according to global statistics, there are 20.1 million cases of COVID-19, with over 775,000 deaths. And, with no approved treatment or cure, there is no assurance that persons will survive after contracting the disease.