DURING his daily COVID-19 Update, Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, on Tuesday disclosed that an additional 25 persons have tested positive for the deadly virus in the last 24 hours.

According to the Department of Public Information (DPI), six persons are currently patients of the Infectious Diseases Hospital at Liliendaal.

“We are again appealing to the general public to take all the necessary precautions because over the last two weeks the cases in Guyana have been going up and hospitalisation has been going up,” Minister Anthony said, according to DPI.

He also called on citizens to take personal responsibility in protecting themselves against infection by following preventative measures that have been put in place by the government over the last two years.

“For example, mask-wearing, avoiding crowded places, etc., because these are the basic non-pharmaceutical measures one can use in terms of preventing COVID,” he said.

Moreover, the variants of the virus that are currently circulating mimic the influenza virus, which can lead to persons mistakenly thinking they have the flu.

It is therefore important that persons experiencing such symptoms get tested for COVID-19.

The health minister used the opportunity to emphasise the importance of vaccination.

“Unfortunately, we do not see a lot of persons coming in to be tested although we have a number of testing sites. What would help is people getting vaccinated [because] we have seen a significant drop in vaccination rates. We are encouraging people who are older and/or those who have underlying medical conditions to get vaccinated,” he reiterated.

Dr Anthony said the ministry will continue to provide all the relevant information to the public.

However, information must be acted upon by everyone, including those who have been vaccinated. This cohort is being encouraged to return to get the booster doses.

“This is the only way you can protect yourself especially for those who are vulnerable. We also need people and organisations to assess the risk for themselves and then be able to make those decisions to protect themselves and others,” he added.

Meanwhile, the minister stated that healthcare workers in each region have adequate PPEs and access to the necessary vaccines and other medication.