A total of 1 017 COVID-19 cases were tested, treated but never reported, Health Minister Lizzie Nkosi announced in a statement that was released on Monday.  

Nkosi said the Health Ministry has been undergoing a data cleaning process where health facilities that had been conducting testing were requested to submit all their testing registers to the National COVID-19 Laboratory in Mbabane.

“From these records, it was found that there were 1 017 unreported COVID-19 cases who were tested and treated within certain health facilities. This has therefore resulted in an increase in the number of total cumulative cases and recoveries recorded to date,” reported the Health Minister.

Nkosi clarified that records for those who passed away were reported accordingly to facilitate their burials and therefore the backlog is not inclusive of those who died while undergoing treatment.

The additional cases have resulted in the updated summery table.

Status of COVID-19 Confirmed Cases	Number of Patience	%
Active Cases	39
Recoveries	17 682	96.%
Active cases	669	3.6%
Registration for care	3
Total	18 398

Nkosi assured the nation that the government will continue to clean up the COVID-19 data during this time when COVID-19 is at all-time low.