In a press statement on December 17, 2020, the Ministry of Health in Belize brought to the public’s attention new changes to the number of recoveries they have been reporting since the pandemic.
The released states that, “A new protocol guided by the WHO now redefines the method of determining whether a person is recovered.”
“Before, a negative PCR test result was needed for a person to be declared “recovered”. With the new protocol, individuals are declared clinically recovered 14 days after testing positive, assuming they present no signs and symptoms.”
A total of 151 cases were recovered on December 17 in Belize. The Ministry said by “applying the new definition the new cumulative total of recovered cases is 8053.
“This number includes persons who were pending results from the Central Medical Lab, persons lost to follow-up who were never re-tested, and any other person whose sample was not processed for any other reason.”
The accumulated total persons recovered up to December 16 stood at 4,779 before the new adjustment was made.
Belize has a total of 8,265 recovered persons as of Saturday, December 19 with active cases stand at 1,542.