Puerto Rico starts for third consecutive day with no deaths related to COVID-19 and 365 new confirmed cases

Puerto Rico woke up this Tuesday with no recent deaths associated with it COVID-19 for the third day in a row, the Health Department.

Given this fact, the total number of deaths from the virus remains at 1,703, 1,420 of which are confirmed deaths and 283 probable.

Salud added 365 new confirmed positive cases, 62 probable positive cases and 445 presumptive positive cases with samples taken between January 3 and 17. With these new infections, the total number of confirmed cases was 82,259, while the probable number is 6,114. Suspicious cases total 63,063.

“The number of additional confirmed cases since the last report does not mean these cases match the last 24 hours”, the agency stressed in its daily report on the progress of the disease.

The total number of confirmed cases was adjusted after adding 39 infections before January 3. Likewise, Health corrected the total of probable cases by subtracting 36 cases that passed a positive molecular test and four cases before Jan. 3. The total number of suspected cases was also adjusted after there were 60 cases that subsequently had a positive molecular test and one case with a positive antigen test. For a bit, they added 300 suspected cases before January 3 that had not been reported.

Meanwhile, the number of patients hospitalized for the virus was placed at 351, of whom 46 are in an intensive care unit and 49 remain connected to a ventilator.

To date, the country’s hospitals have 229 intensive care beds and 854 adult ventilation equipment available.

According to the agency, the term confirmed positive case refers to infections whose result has been validated by a PCR (molecular) test. The likely case is one whose disease positive result was obtained by antigen testing. Meanwhile, suspected cases, also known as antibody results, are those that have a positive serological test and no positive molecular or antigen test.

In addition, the agency explained that a death confirmed by COVID-19 corresponds to the death of a person with one or more positive molecular tests. Probable death is the death of a patient who was diagnosed with COVID-19 through an antigen test or whose clinical picture meets the criteria to believe he had COVID-19 but never had a molecular or antigen test to detect it virus. Suspicious death, meanwhile, refers to the death of a person where a specific antibody is detected in serum, plasma, or through a serological test using their blood.