Health authorities are currently monitoring 949 active cases of the novel coronavirus countrywide.
New infections have been recorded in all regions except Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni).
However, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony cautioned that this could mean that the district is lacking in terms of testing for the virus.
Within the last 24 hours, a total of 157 new infections were detected.
There are currently nine active cases in Region One, 66 in Region Two, 96 in Region Three, 524 in Region Four, 50 in Region Five, 147 in Region Six, 17 in Region Nine, and 22 in Region Ten.
The Health Minister noted too that a lot of these figures could be understated.
“A lot of this might be an underestimate because of people who have done home testing and if they are positive and they haven’t reported it,” the Minister explained.
He had previously noted too that many people are experiencing flu/cold symptoms and just treat it as a common cold, when in fact, it is the novel coronavirus. This is why the Minister is urging persons who have flu/cold symptoms to get tested.
Meanwhile, there are 29 persons hospitalised with the virus, 2 of whom are in the Intensive Care Unit.
As the Health Ministry continues to encourage vaccination, parents are now being encouraged to grant permission for their children, aged 5 to 11, to get their jabs.
With the donation of over 50,000 doses of these pediatric vaccines from the Government of Spain, the government is aiming to begin administering the shots this Saturday.
“We require parental consent…the form basically would ask questions that we would like to get a history of vaccination with this particular child, how they reacted to vaccines, and if they have any underlining medical issues…,” Dr Anthony explained.
“If the child is eligible and the parent would have signed the form, then we’ll proceed to give the child the vaccine. It’s not very complicated,” he added.
To date, 442,590 or 86.3 per cent of adults have received a first dose of a Covid vaccine, while 342,250 or 66.7 per cent have received two doses.
For the 12 to 17 age cohort, 37,743 or 47.6 per cent have received a first dose of the Pfizer vaccine while 25,469 or 34.9 per cent have received two jabs.
A total 66,081 booster doses have been administered.
