Sixteen new cases of COVID-19 have been recorded by health officials in Guyana, taking the total number of persons who have tested positive to 272. 

Late last Saturday, the Ministry of Public Health said there are 138 active cases hospitalised, including three in Intensive Care, at various facilities across the country, while 16 others are in institutional quarantine.

At the same time, the Health Ministry said 3 more persons have recovered from the virus, taking the total number of recoveries to 120.

So far, Guyana has recorded 14 deaths.

Meanwhile, the Public Health Ministry is in the process of locking down several communities in the 2 interior regions to begin widespread testing and screening.

The ministry has announced that medical teams will be in Aranka and surrounding mining areas in Region 7, as well as Moruca in Region 1 in the coming days.

In the past 2 weeks, the 2 regions have seen a spike in their COVID-19 cases.

As part of the measures to stem the further spread of the virus in the 2 regions, mining operations in parts of the 2 regions have been ordered closed and there will also be a total lockdown of a number of communities.

Under the lockdown measures, no one will be allowed in or out of the communities for 1 month, commencing today until August 3^rd.

The minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence has noted that the medical team of doctors, nurses, sanitization staff, and surveillance teams will all be doing their part to identify and isolate positive cases while quarantining contacts and monitoring their conditions.

As of last Saturday, the World Health Organisation reported that globally confirmed cases stand at 10,922,324 with 523,011 deaths. 

While in the regions of the Americas, positive cases now stand at 5,575,482 with a total of 259,094 deaths.