WITH the steady increase in positive COVID-19 cases in the past few weeks, Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, has expressed the belief that this may indicate that the Omicron variant is in Guyana.
He made this disclosure during the COVID-19 update, on Monday, where he noted that there has been a consistent and drastic rise in the number of cases recorded. A whopping 284 cases were recorded on January 2, 2021.
According to the minster, as at December 28, 2021, just 32 COVID-19 cases were recorded, but the number rose to 87 the following day. According to the updates from the ministry, by December 31, 2021, it had increased to 206.

He noted that, over the past 24 hours, an additional 98 new cases were recorded from 1,204 tests administered.

“Again, we suspect that we might have the Omicron variant that is in circulation, in Guyana, because, based on these numbers we know that in other countries with Omicron it is highly contagious so the numbers would keep multiplying. Every two to four days you would have an increase in these numbers. With the way that this has rapidly progressed in the last couple of days from an epidemiological point of view it is Omicron that is in circulation here,” said Minster Anthony.

Minister Anthony said that, while there is currently no cure for the virus, persons are urged to take necessary precautions to minimise the spread of the virus, which include wearing of face masks, sanitising, social distancing and getting vaccinated.

He said that one of the fastest spreaders of COVID-19 are persons who do not wear masks. The virus, he added, is most easily transmitted when persons leave their mouths and noses exposed.

The Health Minster further said that many persons are in possession of masks, but do not wear them properly, thus increasing their risks of contracting the virus.

“So, we need to be extra vigilant, the same public health measures that we are talking about, they hold true, but we need to practice them. They’re not going to protect you if you are not practicing them, so keeping safe distances, we need to practice that. Wearing masks, we need to do that as well,” Health Minister said

He further advised that the best protection against COVID-19 is a combination of social distancing, wearing masks and frequent sanitisation.

VACCINATION
According to the latest COVID-19 statistics, some 411,269 adults and 30,410 adolescents have received their first dose of one of the COVID-19 vaccines available in Guyana.

Those numbers, when broken down, mean that 80.2 per cent of the country’s adult population and 41.7 per cent of its adolescent population have received their first shot of a COVID-19 “jab”.

In terms of second doses, statistics show that 57.6 per cent of the adult population is fully vaccinated, representing some 295,696 persons, while 21,740 adolescents or 29.8 per cent of that grouping has received the second shot.

“In terms of boosters, we’ve had 11,986 persons who got their booster doses and this is again just a small percentage of our population,” Dr. Anthony said.

With the exception of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, for persons to be considered fully vaccinated with the available vaccines, namely, AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, Sputnik V and Pfizer, they must get both doses.

ISOLATE
Minister Anthony highlighted that a pivotal part in the fight against COVID-19 is isolation so as to prevent the spread of the virus. He stated that, in many cases, persons who have tested positive but have mild symptoms have made the unwise decision of continuing to interact with others thus further spreading the virus.

“If you test positive, you also need to isolate. There are people who are testing positive, and, because they have mild symptoms, they are going back into the workplace and what they are doing is that they will infect a whole host of other people. So if you test positive you need to isolate,” said Minister Anthony.

He reminded that while the ministry recommends isolation, persons should only isolate if they have actually contracted the virus. He added that many persons have been found to have falsified their results in an effort to evade work.