After weeks of declining, the percentage of coronavirus tests coming back positive has stabilized, and even appears to be on the rise, according to data released by the Health Ministry.
A total of 1,479 new cases of the coronavirus were diagnosed Monday, up from 905 a day before.
While the increase in new diagnoses was largely the result of the large number of tests conducted Monday – 39,678, versus 25,920 on Sunday – there was also an increase in the percentage of positive tests.
During the nationwide lockdown, the percentage of tests which came back positive fell from a peak of over 15% down to a low of 2.8% on Saturday.
For the past two days, however, that figure has risen, climbing to 3.5% on Sunday and continuing to rise Monday, reaching 3.7%.
The number of hospitalized coronavirus patients declined somewhat Tuesday, falling from 1,152 Monday morning to 1,119 Tuesday morning, while the number of hospitalized patients in serious condition increased from 619 Monday morning to 636 Tuesday morning.
New recoveries continued to outpace newly diagnosed cases of the virus Monday, with 2,108 patients recovering.
Since the pandemic began, 305,348 cases of the virus have been reported, including 279,729 which ended in recovery.
Of the 23,347 cases which are currently active, 19,894 are being treated at home, 2,334 are being treated at coronavirus hotels, with 1,119 patients hospitalized. Of those, 636 are in serious condition, 233 are on respirators, and 179 are in moderate condition.