BY ALEX DADAMU
POSITIVE COVID-19 cases diagnosed in the country has now increased to 289 with the latest confirmation of 120 positive cases in the last 24 hours.
This was according to Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare when also confirming a death of a COVID positive at the National Referral Hospital (NRH).
“I regret to confirm that one very sick lady had passed away because of an existing serious conditions and she also had COVID-19.
Prime Minister Sogavare pointed out that 264 of these 289 total of positive cases have been diagnosed in the past five days from 18th to 22nd January 2022.
“The number of positive cases represents 44% of all samples tested yesterday.
“This is an extremely high slide positivity rate, which means we are not testing enough. In the normal slide positivity rate agreed by the World Health Organisation is up to 5%.
“This simply means we are only catching a small portion. Of all the positive cases, the true number of positive positives could exceed 500 new cases per day.
Prime Minister Sogavare also stated that a matter of serious concern is that more than 50 staff at the National referral hospital are positive for COVID-19.
He said that the National Referral Hospital is therefore closed for normal services and will only take emergency until further notice.
