Health Ministry releases conflicting COVID-19 figures for Tuesday

The Ministry of Health on Tuesday released inaccurate COVID-19 figures which did not add up to the 31 new cases announced and numerous efforts made by the News Room and other media houses seeking clarity proved futile.

On Monday, the Ministry reported that Region Four recorded 351 cases while on Tuesday the data showed that Region Four recorded 406 cases which would mean that 55 new cases were recorded for this region.

However, the Ministry announced only 31 new cases and stated that the overall known cases are 1,060, but when all the cases are added up in each region, the total stands at 1,099.

Other discrepancies were observed with the data for other regions as well and the News Room earlier reported that there are inconsistencies with the number of confirmed cases for Region Seven – one of the major COVID-19 hotspots.

The Regional Health Emergency Committee on Friday last released data which showed that as of August 21, 2020 the region recorded a total of 226 cases, however in the Ministry’s daily update on Tuesday only 205 cases were reported.

Efforts made by the News Room to contact the Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony and other persons in his Public Relations Unit proved futile.

Since the unit’s head Terrence Esseboom was sent on leave by the new Government, the Health Ministry has not appointed anyone to take up the post.