Guyana is currently in its third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, which, according to Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony is being driven primarily by the Delta variant.
He made the pronouncements today during a press conference.
“We are in the third wave, we feel that this one is being propelled by the Delta variant and we are unfortunately going to see more cases and more hospitalisations,” Dr Anthony said.
The Guyana Government has not officially confirmed the presence of the Delta variant in the country, but the Health Minister had noted that officials are operating as if it is already here.
A few days ago, the Trinidad Government had reported that the Delta variant was detected in traveller from Guyana.
As of yesterday, the country’s Covid-19 death toll stood at 622. Nine of those fatalities occurred within a two-day period.
The active cases are over 1000, with over 100 currently hospitalised countrywide.
With cases, hospitalisations, and deaths steadily increasing, Dr Anthony said more hospital space and equipment will be needed. He said critical to its preparation for the rising cases is the availability of oxygen.
“We will require oxygen. About three weeks ago, we had a consultant who came in from PAHO that looked at all our hospitals, assessed the oxygen capability, and how we can improve those capabilities so, as we speak every regional hospital has been in a preparation mode to add more oxygen capacity,” the Health Minister noted.
Additionally, Dr Anthony revealed that efforts are also underway to procure two oxygen plants in Guyana.
According to the Health Minister, the Government has been pushing its vaccination campaign so as to minimise the number of hospitalisations since a sudden surge can overwhelm the country’s capacity to cope with the pandemic.
To date, 315,279 persons who would have received a first dose vaccine, representing 61.5% of the adult population.
Meanwhile, 163,806 adults are fully vaccinated, representing 31.7%.
With regards to children, over 3,400 have received their first jabs.
