GUYANA has lost yet another life to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), taking the death toll to 103.
The latest victim was identified as being a 61-year-old woman from Region One (Barima-Waini). Authorities said the woman died while receiving treatment at a local health facility, on Saturday.

The Ministry of Health expressed condolences to the family of the victim and pledged to make every effort to provide all the necessary support during this difficult time.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by a newly-discovered coronavirus. Most people who become sick with COVID-19 will experience mild to moderate symptoms, and recover without special treatment.
The WHO had 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 five per cent will need intensive care.

Health authorities have so far tested 15,753 persons, with 12,348 proving negative, and 3,405 positive. Some 47 of those cases were recorded within the past 24 hours.
While 2,304 persons have recovered from this disease, 103 persons have died and there are 999 active cases which include 110 persons in institutional isolation, 873 in home isolation, and 16 in the COVID-19 ICU.

Authorities have said that cases are being detected because more tests are being done. Sample taking was also increased across the country because the authorities believed that many cases were going “under the radar”.

This suspicion had prompted the authorities to distribute more sample kits across the country, especially to regions where the infection rate is high. Most of the cases have so far been recorded in Regions One (Barima-Waini), Four (Demerara-Mahaica), Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) and Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo).
“We are sending out more kits, so there will be an increase in sample collection… the testing itself has components; one is sample collection, and then there is the processing of samples,” said Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, in a recent report.

The actual testing will be done centrally at the National Reference Laboratory, because regional facilities lack the capacity and technical skills needed to get it done. While the government hopes to improve capacity in those regions, the immediate need for sample-testing takes precedence, especially with the high number of asymptomatic cases.
It was reported that processing time for samples taken from persons to test for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) will be reduced from about eight hours to two-three hours, as Government received a new automated Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing machine from China.

The machine and supporting equipment, valuing around G$17 million, were handed over by China’s Ambassador to Guyana, Cui Jianchun, to the Ministry of Health, on Friday.
With the automated machine, authorities will be able to do about 96 tests in about two hours, and if there are several shifts, 500-800 tests could be completed easily in one day.