Coronavirus Bulletin #168 of the Ministry of Public Health’s Department of Epidemiology shows the Dominican Republic has 96,629 confirmed Covid-19 cases, including 1,002 new cases. The lull in cases has more to do with problems in testing at the government and private labs after the changes in command at the Ministry of Public Health, rather than a real decline in cases.
The number of confirmed cases depends on the completion of PCR tests. Public Health Minister Plutarco Arias has announced the government will increase testing with the arrival of a shipment of 100,000 reagents for PCR tests starting this week.
The Ministry of Health explains that the published statistics only cover the positive results when a person is given a first test. Subsequent tests to determine if the person has recovered are not included in the statistical report. This means that tests are more than the reported test number indicates.
The bulletin reveals that the average testing over the past 14 days is at a low 3,175 PCR confirm case tests. The numbers of first diagnostic tests carried out over the past 14 days [the difference between the PCR tests reported since the past bulletin] are:
3,808 (Bulletin #168), 3,120 (Bulletin #167), 2,126 (Bulletin #166), 3,729 (Bulletin #165), 3,339 (Bulletin #164), 2,808 (Bulletin #163), 2,466 (Bulletin #162), 2,694 (Bulletin #161), 2,585 (Bulletin #160), 3,221 (Bulletin #159), 2,770 (Bulletin #158), 3,467 (Bulletin #157), 3,936 (Bulletin #156), 4,382 (Bulletin #155)
The statistical reports do not include rapid response blood antibody tests or patients diagnosed with tomography or other means. At the end of his term in August 2020, Public Health Minister Rafael Sánchez Cárdenas said the random blood antibody survey revealed that 8.4% of the Dominican population had had the disease, or around 10 times the number of confirmed tests. The Dominican Republic has a population of more than 10 million people.
The tally of deaths is now 1,801, including 36 new registered deaths, a new record since the first Covid-19 case was declared in the DR on 1 March 2020. The higher number of deaths could also reflect better statistical management by the new health authorities. The increase is because deaths that had not been reported have been included now, as the new health authorities catch up with delays in reporting. Cases dating as far back as July have been included in the tally for Bulletin #168. The daily average number of deaths for the past 14 days is at 21.14.
As of Bulletin #168, 7,518 patients are hospitalized, a new record, up from 7,446. The number of persons in intensive care units declined significantly to 199.
The fatality rate, the number of reported deaths per number of confirmed cases, is 1.86% per million inhabitants. The positivity rate is at 27.98% for the four past weeks. World experts advocate opening the economy when the positivity rate is at 5%. The Ministry of Health has said in-person school learning needs a 10% positivity rate.
The official accumulated incidence of the disease per 100,000 inhabitants as per confirmed PCR tests is highest in the National District and these top 10 provinces: National District (2,626), Pedernales (1,237), Santiago (1,029), La Altagracia (973), Sánchez Ramírez (917), La Vega (841), Duarte (791), Maria Trinidad Sánchez (760), Azua (758), La Romana (754) and Barahona (725). Santo Domingo province with 706 is in 12th place in the incidence of the disease per 100,000 inhabitants.
The new Public Health authorities have added a column to the Epidemiological Bulletin, indicating the provinces with the highest positivity rates. The top five provinces are located in the southwest: Pedernales (86.09), Baoruco (69.13), Independencia (65.57), Barahona (52.71) and San José de Ocoa (51.89). With the exception of Barahona, these are provinces with very low populations.
The 14-day bulletin results are:
Bulletin #168: 96,629 confirmed cases, 1002 new cases, 7,518 hospitalized, 1,801 deaths, 36 new reported deaths, fatality rate per 1M is 172.37.
Bulletin #167: 95,627 confirmed cases, 648 new cases, 7,446 hospitalized, 1,765 deaths, 27 new reported deaths, fatality rate per 1M is 168.92.
Bulletin #166: 94,979 confirmed cases, 264 new cases, 7,444 hospitalized, 1,738 deaths, 28 new reported deaths, fatality rate per 1M is 166.34.
Bulletin #165: 94,715 confirmed cases, 474 new cases, 7,455 hospitalized, 1,710 deaths, 29 new reported deaths, fatality rate per 1M is 163.66.
Bulletin #164: 94,241 confirmed cases, 509 new cases, 7,480 hospitalized, 1,681 deaths, 8 new reported deaths, fatality rate per 1M is 160.88.
Bulletin #163: 93,732 confirmed cases, 342 new cases, 7,365 hospitalized, 1,673 deaths, 25 new reported deaths
Bulletin #162: 93,390 confirmed cases, 426 new cases, 1,648 deaths, 18 new reported deaths, fatality rate per 1M is 157.73
Bulletin #161: 92,964 confirmed cases, 407 new cases, 7,370 hospitalized, 1,630 deaths, 17 new reported deaths, fatality rate per 1M is 156.
Bulletin #160: 92,557 confirmed cases, 340 new cases, 7,329 hospitalized, 1,613 deaths, 28 new reported deaths
Bulletin #159: 92,217 confirmed cases, 609 new cases, 7,328 hospitalized, 1,585 deaths, 12 new reported deaths
Bulletin #158: 91,608 confirmed cases, 447 new cases, 7,313 hospitalized, 1,573 deaths, 6 new reported deaths
Bulletin #157: 91,161 confirmed cases, 600 new cases, 7,337 hospitalized, 1,567 deaths, 13 new reported deaths
Bulletin #156: 90,561 confirmed cases, 694 new cases, 7,287 hospitalized, 1,554 deaths, 21 new reported deaths
Bulletin #155: 89,867 confirmed cases, 857 new cases, 7,284 hospitalized, 1,533 deaths, 28 new reported death
As of Wednesday, 2 September 2020 at 4pm, the deadline for Bulletin #168, the most confirmed cases were located in urban areas where most of the tests are carried out. The National District (27,396) and the Santo Domingo province (20,542) are 50% of the 95,627 confirmed cases nationwide.
Other provinces with large number of confirmed cases are: Santiago (10,762), San Cristobal (3,611), La Vega (3,460), La Altagracia (3,441), Duarte (2,368), La Romana (2,057), Puerto Plata (1,773), Azua (1,686), Espaillat (1,523), San Juan de la Maguana (1,530), Sánchez Ramírez (1,395), San Pedro de Macoris (1,408), Barahona (1,372), Maria Trinidad Sanchez (1,073), Monseñor Nouel (1,071) and Peravia (1,009) are the other provinces that have 500 or more accumulated cases. The National District, province of Santo Domingo and these 16 provinces of 32 make up more than 90% of the confirmed cases nationwide.
Where and how much testing determines the reported new cases. Outbreaks may take days to be reported in the official bulletin. A considerable outbreak is reported in San Juan de la Maguana, with 107 confirmed cases in Bulletin #168. As the new authorities take control, there has been a marked decline in testing. The most new allocated cases reported for the 2 September update deadline are: Santiago (274), National District (175), Santo Domingo (109), San Juan de la Maguana (107), La Altagracia (48), Puerto Plata (30), Duarte (29), Monseñor Nouel (24), San Cristobal (15), San Pedro de Macoris (15), Independencia (13), La Romana (11) and Sánchez Ramírez (11).
Haiti reports 8,301 confirmed cases and 210 deaths, for the 2 September 2020 deadline.
In the Americas, the Dominican Republic is now ranked 11th in confirmed cases after the United States, Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Bolivia and Ecuador.
See the Ministry of Public Health epidemiological
bulletins
John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center
University of Washington Health Data
University of Oxford Covid Tracker
Worldometer
SICA
3 September 2020