Minsa Confirms 9th Case of Coronavirus In Nicaragua; 2 Deaths

The Ministry of Health (Minsa) confirmed Monday a new case of covid-19 in the country, that of  a 58-year-old man. The patient in a “delicate” state, but “stable.

To date, 10 cases of the new coronavirus have been reported in the country, 2 of these have died and seven have recovered.

Of that number, seven have been “imported”, and “non-imported” cases and one was classified as “contact with other nationalities”.

Currently, there is only one active case of covid-19, the latest.

The first death from the coronavirus occurred on March 26, six days after the diagnosis was confirmed. As detailed, the health of this patient was complicated by pre-existing chronic diseases.

The second death occurred on Saturday, April 18, a 64-year-old man who entered a private hospital on April 7, but wa not publicly confirmed as positive for covid-19 until the 10th.

“(The patient) presented an acute and unexpected complication that, along with other chronic conditions that he already had, led to his death,” said the general secretary of the Minsa, Carlos Sáenz.

However, the doctor who cared for the patient explained told Confidencial.com.ni that the man had complications from bacterial pneumonia, which was added to “covid-19 viral pneumonia, which led to septic shock and kidney failure.”

So his death was not “unexpected” as the Minsa said.

In Nicaragua, the government has handled information about the coronavirus with secrecy. They have not reported how many covid-19 tests have been performed to confirm or rule out the virus. And although the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) donated 26,000 rapid tests, the Minsa ruled that only 50 tests will be applied daily at the national level.

However, several experts and epidemiologists have urged the Ortega Government to expand the sampling to find out the true dimension of the virus in Nicaragua.

“With10,000 tests a week, in a matter of two or three weeks, the true dimension of the covid-19 in Nicaragua could be known with rigor. The use of diagnostic kits for mass sampling could give statistical significance to country data, making it a powerful tool for multiple reasons,” explains scientist Jorge Huete.