The four children hospitalised for exhibiting severe symptoms of COVID-19 have underlying comorbidities, the Ministry of Health has disclosed. It was Minister Frank Anthony, who informed the nation last week of the ‘disturbing trend’ of children displaying severe symptoms and having to be institutionalized.
He noted that since March 2020, there have been 1,567 instances out of more than 20,000 cases of children up to 14 years old contracting the virus.
He said of that number, 287 were children below four years old, 524 between the ages of five and nine, and 756 were aged nine to 14 years.
The Ministry said yesterday that the percentage of infection among children in Guyana is not unlike what has been seen in other countries over time. In 2020, globally, children accounted for 3 to 12% of COVID-19 virus detection rates. In 2021, the rates have jumped to 22% in most countries due to various COVID-19 variants.
In Guyana, among the total detected cases so far, children represent about 7%. Even though Guyana has recorded children testing positive for COVID-19 in the past, as did every single country in the world, there is a big difference in recent weeks in Guyana.
“When the Minister made the disclosure, it was the first time the country had four Covid 19 hospitalised children, and apart from COVID 19, each of these children had underlying comorbidities. The recent more aggressive cases in adults and now some children underline the caution the Minister and the Ministry have been vigorously making the last several months that there is a more aggressive form of COVID-19 virus circulating in Guyana,” the Ministry said.
