COVID numbers gone past 10,000 mark whilst deaths at 128

Three months after COVID-19 hit, the total number of COVID-19 cases has gone past the 10,000 mark with deaths at 128.

But the Minister of Health and Medical Services Dr. Culwick Togamana has admitted that these numbers could be higher had all the cases of both COVID and deaths were recorded.

Speaking last night in his twice a week update on COVID-19, Togamana said: “As of today we have passed the 10,000 mark in our total case count for COVID-19. Total positive test reports now stand at 10,204 with 251 in the past 72 hours.”

He revealed that the epidemiological summary of COVID-19 aggregated testing data showed that COVID-19 cases continue to be reported, but at a diminishing rate.

He added this means, less cases are being reported in recent days and weeks compared to the month of January and February 2022.

For instance, in the month of January and early February, 7 days rolling average of cases was 200 cases per day, compared to the month of March where only average cases range between 120 – 160 cases, Togamana stated.

 He said similar trend is also noted for COVID-19 related deaths. “The number of deaths has reportedly declined in March when compared to February 2022. It has been seen that many people who got COVID symptoms did not go for testing, hence, it will be safe to assume that the death proportion among COVID positives will be lower. However, we have also seen that many people who had severe COVID symptoms did not seek medical care and have died at home,” he said.

Togamana continued: “We are also making concerted effort to assess these deaths so that we can have good data on number of people who lost their lives due to COVID in Solomon Islands.” However, he said, this issue is not specific to Solomon, in a recent paper published in a journal, it was mentioned that the death due to COVID may actually be three times more than what has been reported (6 million reported vs 18.2 million estimated)

Togamana said that is the very reason why health is still maintaining a strong call for people to continue practice COVID-19 safe measures and get vaccinated immediately.

News@SBMOnline2022