SANTIAGO – Shortly after announcing the new confirmed coronavirus cases in Chile, the health authorities added another 30,000 cases to the count. According to experts, the adjustment is due to revisions in databases and epidemiological reports. With the new adjustment, Chile is now in the top ten of most coronavirus cases in the world.
The Health Ministry announced on Tuesday there were over 5,000 new coronavirus cases recorded in the last 24 hours. However, shortly after publishing the daily balance, Rafael Araos, the head of the epidemiology department, announced an extra 31,412 cases were added to the total count. Those cases are not necessarily all active. According to Araos, it’s an adjustment based on corrections after info from databases and reports was analyzed.
With a heavily challenged health system, there is a delay in publishing test results and in updating epidemiological reports. The majority of the added cases, Araos said, were recorded in the Metropolitan region. Araos called the adjustment usual. “We will make all the adjustments that are necessary in the future as we detect situations like this”. The corrections came to light after a new database was created with information from all laboratories and hospitals in the country put together.
This means that on tomorrow’s report, the government will add the new cases to a total of 215,861 cases, and not 184,449. By crossing the 200,000 barrier, Chile is now the 9th country in the world with most confirmed cases, after the United States, Brazil, Russia, India, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy and Peru.
Editor-In-Chief Boris van der Spek is the founder of Chile Today. He worked in Colombia, Surinam and the Netherlands as reporter and works with international media during major events, like the social crisis, the elections and the Pope’s visit.