NICD announces nearly 38,000 new Covid-19 infections but says more than half are 'retrospective cases'

NICD says that “IT challenges” resulted in more than 19,000 cases not being recorded in recent days, with them now being added to the total.

NICD says that IT challenges mean that an additional 19,000 retrospective Covid-19 test results have been added to the total announced on Sunday. File Photo
NICD says that IT challenges mean that an additional 19,000 retrospective Covid-19 test results have been added to the total announced on Sunday. File Photo
Image: REUTERS/Loren Elliott

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases said on Sunday that 37,857 new Covid-19 cases have been confirmed in the past 24 hours, but more than half of these are “retrospective cases” as a result of an IT glitch.

“Today we report 37,875 new cases, which includes 19,840 retrospective cases and 18,035 new cases. In the past 24 hours, a total of 18,035 positive Covid-19 cases have been reported. The positivity testing rate today is 28.9%," the NICD said in a statement.

The 37,875 new cases is significantly higher than the previous record of 26,645 which was recorded at the peak of the third wave on July 3.

The NICD said that there were 21 deaths recorded in the past day, taking the confirmed Covid-19 death toll to 90,137 since March last year.

Explaining the situation, the NICD said that it relied on private and public sector testing data as part of its reporting.

“The NICD was informed in the previous week that information technology challenges had been experienced by public sector laboratories, which have resulted in reporting delays. 

“The NICD is committed to transparent reporting and will continue to update Covid-19 surveillance databases retrospectively as the impacted public laboratories remedy the existing IT difficulties. This will result in retrospective data being processed onto the line list, increasing the cumulative number of tests,” the NICD said.

It added that there were 96 hospital admissions in the past day, meaning that there are currently 5,563 people in hospital for coronavirus-related treatment.

TimesLIVE


Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.