GUYANA’S COVID-19 infections continue to climb since the break of 2022 with 847 new cases and two COVID-related deaths recorded between Thursday and Friday, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony confirmed on Friday last.

Dr Anthony’s disclosure was made during his daily COVID-19 press briefing.

This has been a continuing trend over the past five days where Guyana has seen significantly high positivity rates of the deadly COVID-19 virus based on the number of tests done on the previous day.
Health officials suspect the Omicron variant, which is believed to be more easily transmissible, is present in Guyana.

On Thursday, the Health Minister expressed concern at the 3,400 new cases which emerged over a three-day period, urging those persons to remain isolated. On Friday, he said Guyana’s active cases have now climbed to 4,295.

Taking a closer look at the data from the recent announcement, Dr Anthony said persons between the age group 15-19 account for 26 COVID-19 cases; the 10-14 age group accounts for 22 cases; and the five-nine age group accounts for 21 cases.

“We are seeing these cases in this younger grouping that is really mobile, moving around from place to place probably going to the bars and restaurants… They are the ones we are seeing are getting infected,” the health minister said.

Turning his attention to vaccination numbers, Dr Anthony said there has been a slight increase in the total number of vaccinated adults which has climbed to 413,376 for first dose recipients, and 298,9545 for second dose recipients.

He added that vaccination figures for adolescents have climbed to 30,829 for first dose recipients, while second dose recipients equal 21,957.