Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony, today, said there is no spike in COVID-19 cases in Guyana, but the Government has started to put precautionary measures in place given the rise of a new COVID-19 variant globally.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the new variant N.B.1.8.1, a family of the Omicron variant, has been recorded in some parts of the world.

On May 30, the Office of the Matron of the West Demerara Regional Hospital in a memo to the nursing supervisors, said in light of the “recent rise in COVID-19 cases,” a designated area in the hospital has been identified to accommodate “all stable COVID-19-positive inpatients, including prenatal mothers,” but Minister Anthony said there was no increase locally.

“There is no spike in COVID cases in Guyana. What the Ministry of Health, and through all of our public institutions, we have sent out an alert, a precautionary alert, because we have seen in other parts of the world in China and Asia, the United States that there is a new strain that has been emerging and that’s the N.B.1.8.1 and with that strain you are seeing some amount of hospitalization. And, having seen that happening in the other side of the world, what we are trying to do is to make sure that we take precautionary measures to ensure we have the mechanisms in place to test, if somebody shows up at anyone of our facilities, and if they need hospitalization, that we have the place to hospitalize them. So that’s all it is,” Minister Anthony explained.

Symptoms of the N.B.1.8.1 variant, according to WHO, appear to be similar to other variants of COVID.

The WHO said while the number of cases recorded relatively low, the numbers reflect a “significant rise.”

Minister Anthony, at the time of the interview, was unable to provide the number of COVID-19 cases recorded in Guyana in recent months, but said the numbers remain very low.

He said while monitoring has been ongoing, voluntary testing is low.

“We have not stopped monitoring COVID, but what has happened is that people are not coming to get tested. So, without people being tested, we don’t have enough information. But again, with this new strain, we have heightened. So, anybody coming with flu-like symptoms, we are able to test for it. But it doesn’t mean that everybody with flu-liked symptoms will present with COVID, they can have influenza, they can have something else, but we want to be cautious,” the Health Minister said.

Persons in Guyana are being urged to take the necessary precautionary measures to guard against COVID-19, and to visit the nearest health facility should they exhibit COVID-19 symptoms. Those symptoms include cough, and sore throat, fever and fatigue.

The new variant has been detected in China and some parts of the US.  

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