CONFUSION over the number of cases of coronavirus on the Isle of Wight has puzzled residents since yesterday, when local NHS bosses confirmed a rise in positive test.

Chief executive of the Isle of Wight NHS Trust, Maggie Oldham, said yesterday (March 25) the number of cases of coronavirus has increased from three on Tuesday to eight on Wednesday — more than doubling the figure.

However, when the official Public Health England dashboard was updated later that day, the increase of figures told to the Island was not showing — the number of cases stoic at three.

The Isle of Wight NHS Trust has confirmed the number of cases has indeed risen to eight and said the nationally held figures were taking some time to update.

A spokesperson from the trust said announcing the increase locally, broke the protocol of announcing figures — and said it will revert back to that way from now on — but it was the right thing to do under the particular circumstances.

A spokesperson for Public Health England said the online dashboard runs behind — being updated as of 9am that day.

However, the increase of cases was noted before 9am and should have been updated in the data, as per the wording of the dashboard.

It is not the first time, however, the online dashboard has confused Island residents — a week ago the number of cases on the Island dropped from two to one and then back up again.

Public Health England said that was due to a maladministration of the data — a person was registered to the hospital and not their home address, so was listed under the Isle of Wight as a local authority area.