– Health Ministry confirms two more deaths

THERE have been 76 additional COVID-19 cases recorded over a 24-hour period, with three regions recording 20 or more cases, according to the Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 Dashboard for January 24. This dashboard indicates that there have been 76 new cases recorded from 451 tests. These new cases take the country’s total to 7,298 cases recorded since March, 2020. Importantly, 6,370 of the persons infected have recovered thus far, an additional nine persons over the 24-hour period.

The cases were recorded from Region One (one case), Region Two (one case), Region Three (three cases), Region Four (22 cases), Region Five (six cases), Region Six (23 cases) and Region Seven (20 cases). There were 45 men infected and 31 women. There are also 769 active cases, seven of which are in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU); there are 713 in home isolation, 13 in institutional quarantine, and 36 in institutional isolation.

The ministry, on Sunday, also confirmed the two additional deaths reported by this newspaper. A 60-year-old man from Turkeyen and a 78-year-old man from Berbice are the latest fatalities, taking the local death toll to 172. The updated COVID–19 Emergency Measures are in force from January 1, 2021, until January 31, 2021. They may be extended or amended by notice of the Minister of Health, after an assessment of the prevailing public health conditions of the pandemic.

As per the current measures, however, all persons are required to wear face masks when leaving their homes. Physical distancing and adequate sanitisation are also important. The current curfew time is 22:30 hours to 04:00 hours. Persons with symptoms of COVID-19 are asked to call the COVID-19 hotline numbers: 231-1166; 226-7480; or 180/181 for assistance.