According to Coronavirus Bulletin #126 of the Ministry of Public Health’s Department of Epidemiology, the Dominican Republic has 57,615 confirmed cases, including 1,572 new cases. In the 23 July press briefing, Public Health Minister Rafael Sánchez Cárdenas says that what is new is that most of the new cases are young people. This reverses the trend of the first months of the disease, when most of the infected were people over 60 years of age. Dr. Sánchez Cárdenas said that most of those infected are in the 28 to 52 years old range, but the most new cases are in the 24-35 years old range.
The number of PCR tests reported for the bulletin is 4,107, a new record for tests in the Dominican Republic.
The number of recorded cases is dependent on the availability of PCR tests that continue to be very scarce, especially in the provinces where test waiting lists are long. Even the well off have to wait to get tested. For a shot at a free PCR test, people queue for hours at the Laboratorio Nacional Dr. Defilló in Santo Domingo.
The average testing over the past 14 days is 3,418 PCR tests. The numbers of diagnostic tests carried out over the past 14 days [the difference between the PCR tests reported since the past bulletin] are: 4,107 (Bulletin #126), 3,416 (Bulletin #125), 3,7602,345 (Bulletin #124), 3,396 (Bulletin #123), 3,833 (Bulletin #122), 3,814 (Bulletin #121), 3,769 (Bulletin #120), 3,173 (Bulletin #119), 4,095 (Bulletin #118), 2,101 (Bulletin #117), 2,969 (Bulletin #116), 3,538 (Bulletin #115), 3,590 (Bulletin #114), 3,425 (Bulletin #113), 4,087 (Bulletin #112).
The statistical reports do not include rapid response blood antibody tests or patients diagnosed with tomography or other means. The Dominican Republic has a population of more than 10 million people.
The tally of deaths is now 1,006, including one new registered death. The daily average number of deaths for the past 14 days is 11.7.
As of Bulletin #126, 3,636 patients are hospitalized. Of these, 246 patients are in intensive care units. Covid-19 hospitalization capacity is stretched, and the government says more units will be available at public hospitals to meet the new demand. The most serious problem, though, is the skilled hospital staff, that having been working intensely since April 2020 is fatigued, and many health care providers have fallen ill with the disease.
The fatality rate, the number of reported deaths per number of confirmed cases, continues to decline with the increase in testing. It is now at 1.75% per million inhabitants. The positivity rate over the past four weeks is at 31.16%, a new high. The high positivity rate means the disease is spreading among people who do not know they have it. World experts advocate opening the economy when the positivity rate is at 5%.
The 14 day bulletin results are:
Bulletin #126: 57,615 confirmed cases, 1,572 new cases, 1006 deaths, 1 new reported death
Bulletin #125: 56,043 confirmed cases, 1,246 new cases, 1,005 deaths, 6 new reported deaths
Bulletin #124: 54,797 confirmed cases, 841 new cases, 999 deaths, 6 new reported deaths
Bulletin #123: 53,956 confirmed cases, 1,101 new cases, 993 deaths, 12 new reported deaths
Bulletin #122: 52,855 confirmed cases, 1,336 new cases, 981 deaths, 10 new reported deaths
Bulletin #121: 51,519 confirmed cases, 1406 new cases, 971 deaths, 29 new reported deaths
Bulletin #120: 50,113 confirmed cases, 1,370 new cases, 942 deaths, 1 new reported death
Bulletin #119: 48,743 confirmed cases, 1,072 new cases, 941 deaths, 12 new reported deaths
Bulletin #118: 47,671 confirmed cases, 1,366 new cases, 929 deaths, 19 new reported deaths
Bulletin #117: 46,305 confirmed cases, 799 new cases, 910 deaths, 7 new reported deaths
Bulletin #116: 45,506 confirmed cases, 974 new cases, 903 deaths, 6 new reported deaths
Bulletin #115: 44,532 confirmed cases, 1,418 new cases, 897 deaths, 17 new reported deaths
Bulletin #114: 43,114 confirmed cases, 1,199 new cases, 880 deaths, 16 new reported deaths
Bulletin #113: 41,915 confirmed cases, 1,125 new cases, 864 deaths, 22 new reported deaths
As of Wednesday, 22 July 2020 at 4pm, the deadline for Bulletin #126, the most confirmed cases were located in urban areas where most of the tests are carried out. The National District (16,934) and the Santo Domingo province (14,742) have 54.97% of cases or 31,676 of 57,615 confirmed cases nationwide. Santiago (5,008), San Cristobal (2,620), La Vega (1,984), La Altagracia (1,837), La Romana (1,370), Duarte (1,268), Espaillat (1,071), Azua (1,056), Puerto Plata (861), Barahona (868), San Juan de la Maguana (768), Sánchez Ramírez (762), San Pedro de Macoris (734) and Monseñor Nouel (593) are the other provinces that have 500 or more accumulated cases, making up 89.17% of the confirmed cases nationwide.
The most new cases or recently allocated cases are reported for the 22 July update deadline are: the National District (1,334), Santo Domingo province (230), Santiago (118), La Altagracia (89), San Cristóbal (65), Azua (41), Duarte (39), La Vega (37), La Romana (31), Sánchez Ramírez (30), Puerto Plata (26), Barahona (24), El Seibo (22), San Pedro de Macoris (22), Monseñor Nouel (19), Hato Mayor (17), Peravia (14), San Juan de la Maguana (13) and María Trinidad Sánchez (10). The Ministry of Public Health reports 9 or less confirmed cases in 13 other provinces.
Haiti reports 7,167 confirmed cases and 154 deaths, as of 21 July 2020.
In the Americas, the Dominican Republic is now ranked 11th in confirmed cases after the United States, Brazil, Peru, Canada, Mexico, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina and Bolivia.
See the Ministry of Public Health epidemiological
bulletins
Press briefing
Read more statistical analysis at:
DR1 Forums
John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center
University of Washington Health Data
University of Oxford Covid Tracker
Worldometer
SICA
23 July 2020