SANTIAGO – The Health Ministry in Chile reported 116 new registered deaths from Covid-19 on Sunday, bringing the total to 6,308. However, according to the statistics department from the same ministry, the total death count has already surpassed the 10,000-mark. Minister Enrique Paris has said that the ministry might change again the methodology to avoid the ongoing confusion.
Since the arrival of Enrique Paris as Health Minister of Chile, the ministry reports every day the latest numbers on contagions and Covid-19 deaths with confirmed PCR test. Once a week, their Department of Statistics and Health Information (DEIS) released a report with suspected deaths and deaths with pending PCR added. According to the report DEIS released today, there are 10,159 deaths from Covid-19 in Chile on Sunday.
According to the report, the large majority (7,057 cases) had a confirmed PCR test, while the other 3,102 were suspected to have died from the virus. The report also states the number of Covid-19 cases in Chile has already surpassed the 300,000. Where the Health Ministry reported on Sunday a total of 295,352 cases, the DEIS reports a total of 330,183 cases in Chile, as through their methodology, they added another 34,651 probable cases.
The Metropolitan region has 7,911 deaths, the report says. The Valparaíso is the second worst hit region, with 602 deaths and the Antofagasta region with 291 deaths comes third. Earlier this week, Health Minister Enrique Paris openly discussed the possibility of changing the methodology for reporting Covid-19 cases and deaths. He suggested updating the public twice a week, following the methodology of the DEIS, which counts following World Health Organization recommendations.
The reason that updates would be given twice a week instead of daily, has to do with the way of counting by the DEIS. As they use a wider variety of sources, coming up with a new report every day would require too much manpower. One methodology would according to minister Paris end the current confusion about the reality of Covid-19 in Chile.
Editor-In-Chief Boris van der Spek is the founder of Chile Today.