GUYANA, on Tuesday, recorded 44 new cases of COVID-19, taking the overall known cases to 3,565.

According to statistics provided by the Ministry of Health, 16,215 persons have been tested, with 12,650 proving negative and 3,565 positive. Available information shows that Regions Four (Demerara-Mahaica) and One (Barima-Waini) account for the highest number of cases, with 1,643 and 587 respectively.
And while 2,435 persons have recovered from this disease, 106 have died so far, and there are 1,026 active cases which include 132 persons in institutional isolation, 876 in home isolation, and 16 in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (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 are 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 is being conducted 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 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.