The Health Services Director General and the Chief Epidemiologist have been made aware of discrepancies in COVID-19 data and will address the matter and issue the correct data by Monday.

According to the Health Promotion Bureau Director Dr. Ranjith Batuwanthudawa, Chief Epidemiologist Dr. Samitha Ginige is expected to par take in a press briefing on Monday and will be addressing the matter.

“This was discussed [last morning] at the meeting on COVID-19 at the Health Ministry,” Dr. Batuwanthudawa added.

Questions have been raised about the accuracy of COVID-19 data after it was revealed on Tuesday that 8,826 COVID-19 patients in Gampaha District have not been included in the country’s COVID-19 data. This was after the Gampaha District COVID-19 prevention committee said 12,555 COVID-19 patients were detected from the District between 1 August and 9 August.

An officer attached to the Gampaha District Health Services stated that only 4,046 patients were receiving medical care at treatment centres and 1,506 were receiving home-based care.

This left 7,003 patients in the community without any medical care.

However, data published by the Department of Government Information shows only 3,729 COVID-19 detections from Gampaha District during this period.

Eastern Province Director of Health Services Dr. A.R.M Thowfeek has also pointed to inaccuracies in data. According to him, five COVID-19 fatalities and 837 COVID-19 detections were confirmed on Tuesday.

The COVID-19 detections include 342 patients from Batticaloa, 227 patients from Ampara, 163 patients from Trincomalee, and 105 patients from Kalmunai.

However, the Department of Government Information states that only 45 patients from Batticaloa, 78 patients from Ampara, which includes the patients from Kalmunai, and 71 patients from Trincomalee were detected on Tuesday.

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