Covid-19 Cases in Ecuador Doubled After Govt Releases Delayed Test Results, Crosses 22,000

Ecuador's confirmed coronavirus cases more than doubled to a total of 22,719 after the government released a batch of delayed test results, the Andean country's interior minister said on Friday.

The pandemic in recent weeks has overwhelmed health officials in Guayaquil on the Pacific coast, Ecuador's largest city and epicenter of its coronavirus outbreak.

The government had reported 11,183 confirmed coronavirus cases across Ecuador on Thursday.

Interior Minister Maria Paulo Romo said the hop seen Friday was because of a huge clump of tests being discharged after an expansion in testing limit, instead of any critical change in the circumstance on the ground. 

"It implies we have more data to be appropriated on the pattern line,"



Romo told a virtual question and answer session. 

Ecuador has recognized its loss of life from COVID-19, the respiratory sickness brought about by the novel coronavirus, is higher than the official figures recommend. Individuals have kicked the bucket without being tried and examinations have been confounded by social separating measures.

To address those shortcomings, the government said Thursday it would begin conducting "verbal autopsies," using consultations with family members about what symptoms a person had before dying to determine their cause of death.

Romo said a total of 576 people had died from the virus, up from 560 on Thursday. But the government said an additional 1,060 people had died of suspected COVID-19 without confirmation through testing.