Highly contagious COVID variant, Omicron, possibly in Guyana- Health Minister

Last Updated on Monday, 3 January 2022, 14:10 by Denis Chabrol

As the number of daily coronavirus cases continues to increase, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony said it appears that the highly contagious COVID variant, Omicron, is in Guyana.

“We suspect that we might have the Omicron variant that is in circulation in Guyana because, based on these numbers, we know that in other countries with Omicron, it is highly contagious so the numbers would keep multiplying,” he said.

Dr. Anthony said the trend is that every two four days more COVID positive cases are increasingly being detected. “With the way that this has rapidly progressed over the last couple of days, we suspect from an epidemiological point of view that we might have Omicron that is in circulation here,” said the Health Minister who is also a Public Health specialist.

There has been a rapid spike in new cases December 29, 2021 to January 3, 2022.  On December 28, there were 32 new cases; December 30- 157 new cases; December 31- 178 new cases; January 1- 206 new cases and January 2-284 new cases.

International scientists believe that Omicron attacks mostly the throat rather than the lungs which are susceptible to infections by the Delta and other variants.

The Health Minister said the Omicron variant could penetrate previously infected persons and those who have not taken booster shots. He advised residents to wear K-95 masks properly, sanitise and wash their hands in an effort to control the spread of the virus.