Health sector has capacity to handle surge in COVID-19 cases
President, Dr. Irfaan Ali (centre) with Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony (front left); Director of Medical and Professional Services at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), Dr. Fawcett Jeffery (front right); head doctor at the Infectious Disease Hospital, Dr. Tracey Bovell (back right); National Emergency Medical Director, Dr. Zulfikar Bux (back centre) and Director of Primary Health Care Services, Dr. Ertenisa Hamilton, during the emergency media briefing on the country’s COVID-19 situation, on Wednesday
President, Dr. Irfaan Ali (centre) with Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony (front left); Director of Medical and Professional Services at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), Dr. Fawcett Jeffery (front right); head doctor at the Infectious Disease Hospital, Dr. Tracey Bovell (back right); National Emergency Medical Director, Dr. Zulfikar Bux (back centre) and Director of Primary Health Care Services, Dr. Ertenisa Hamilton, during the emergency media briefing on the country’s COVID-19 situation, on Wednesday

–President Ali affirms, advises Guyanese to uphold individual responsibility by adhering to measures

IN light of a surge in COVID-19 cases, President Dr. Irfaan Ali has urged Guyanese not to panic, but rather to take the necessary precautions to prevent the spread of the virus and heed scientific advice to guard against the harmful effects of this malady.

During an emergency media briefing on the country’s COVID-19 situation, on Wednesday, President Ali urged citizens to get vaccinated and wear their masks at all appropriate times, in order to avoid being infected and to also prevent the spread of the virus, especially with there being a possibility that the highly transmissible Omicron variant is in Guyana.

He said that based on scientific evidence, the Omicron variant is a “super spreader” and is easily transmissible, so one important safeguard to managing the pandemic is reducing exposure to the virus by wearing a mask.

This was reiterated by National Emergency Medical Director, Dr. Zulfikar Bux, who said: “What the data shows is that the load of the virus that we get exposed to is very important… how we decrease the amount of virus that gets into our airways is by ensuring that we wear a mask and by encouraging those around us to wear a mask.”

The President related that even though there is a high positivity ratio in the country at the moment, the number of hospitalisations is relatively low. He warned, however, that the situation could change quickly if more unvaccinated persons become infected.

“For those who are not vaccinated, we want you to get vaccinated. But it is still critical that while you are still making up your mind whether you will get vaccinated, that you adhere to a self-imposition of mandatory mask wearing to minimise the viral load of your exposure,” Dr. Ali said.

The Head of State lamented that one of the major difficulties nations are faced with at the moment, in relation to battling the Omicron variant, is the impact it is having on the healthcare system, whereby medical personnel who are critical to the fight against the pandemic, are testing positive and, as a result, have to quarantine.

He said that even though Guyana has seen a number of health personnel testing positive, the country’s situation remains “manageable” at this time, and the government is focused on keeping the public service functional and adequately managing the country’s health facilities and health personnel.

“All the focus is on managing the healthcare system, ensuring that all the facilities are there, and ensuring that our health personnel are protected to the extent that the healthcare system remains functional and we don’t have difficulties,” Dr. Ali related.

Also speaking at the emergency media briefing, Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, said that based on the current epidemiology, there is strong reason to believe that the Omicron variant is present in Guyana, as there has been a doubling of recorded cases since December 28, 2021, in the country.

NUMBERS INCREASING
“These numbers are going to go up. Fortunately, most of the people who have tested positive, most of them, if not all of them, have mild symptoms… some of them are asymptotic and we have not seen an explosion of hospitalisation,” he said, adding that Omicron is still circulating, and the Delta variant also remains.

Over the last two days, according to Dr. Anthony, there has been a “rush” by persons to test for COVID-19. In light of this, he reminded persons that they need to wait four to five days after exposure before taking the test.
“If you are exposed and you come immediately, the test is going to show negative, and during those days, you need to be quarantined so that you are not affecting anybody,” he said.

Given that a number of persons have been turning up to testing facilities after suspecting they have been exposed to the virus, the President has asked Dr. Anthony and his technical team to consider home testing to limit the chances of there being a strain on the health system.

Dr. Anthony, however, assured the President that the National Public Health Reference Lab has the capacity to conduct at least 2,000 PCR tests in a 24-hour period, and this is supplemented by the capacity of regional hospitals and 12 certified private health facilities.

In addition, he mentioned that there is also capacity at the country’s hospitals to manage COVID-19 patients. The Infectious Diseases Hospital at Liliendaal has a patient capacity of 195 patients; this facility currently has 36 patients.

“We have the capacity and our staff are working and they are prepared. They have worked over the last year and several months managing COVID-19 patients, so they have the experience and know-how to do this, and we feel very capable that we will be able to manage this particular spike that we are seeing,” Dr. Anthony said.

In supporting the Health Minister’s position, Director of Medical and Professional Services at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), Dr. Fawcett Jeffery, said that the hospital is in a position to attend to persons who are infected with the virus.

He reminded that health workers too are affected by the virus, and while some staff at the health facility are infected, the situation does not necessitate a shutdown of any department.

Further, Dr. Tracey Bovell, head doctor at the Liliendaal facility, said that the hospital has been preparing for the expected increase in patients and, to this end, has been working to ensure that there is piped oxygen in every single room at the hospital.

OVER 700 CASES
The Ministry of Health, on Wednesday, reported that 788 new cases of COVID-19 have been detected from 1,878 tests conducted over a 24-hour period, taking the country’s overall active cases to 2,554.

“As we anticipated with Omicron, what we’ll see because of its contagiousness, is an increase in cases, especially if people are not abiding by the public health measures and that is wearing masks and so forth, consistently,” Dr. Anthony said during his COVID-19 update, on Wednesday.

He said that Region Four (Demerara – Mahaica) has the most active cases, with 1,648 persons currently infected with the virus, while there are 338 active cases in Region Six (East Berbice – Corentyne), 203 in Region Three (Essequibo Islands – West Demerara), 115 in Region Nine (Upper Takutu – Upper Essequibo) and 82 in Region 10 (Upper Demerara – Berbice).

Two persons succumbed to the virus on Tuesday, and at the end of the day, 59 persons were hospitalised after becoming infected, with 36 of those persons being hospitalised at the Liliendaal. Of those persons who are hospitalised there, five are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

As the country continues its vaccination campaign in a bid to inoculate the population against the deadly virus, the latest COVID-19 statistics show that some 412,288 adults and 30,580 adolescents have received their first dose of one of the vaccines the country has made available to its citizens.

Those numbers, when broken down, mean that 80.4 per cent of the country’s adult population and 41.9 per cent of its adolescent population or persons between the ages of 12 to 18 years have received their first shot of a COVID-19 ‘jab’.

In terms of second dose, statistics show that approximately 58 per cent of the adult population is fully vaccinated, representing some 297,286 persons, while 21,833 adolescents received their second shot, representing approximately 29.9 per cent of that population. Further, 13,234 booster doses have been administered.

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