World Health Organization (WHO) said Libya reported a declining trend in cases for August with overall increased testing compared with July, saying it achieved the highest number of tests done in the month since the pandemic, with 217,948 tests conducted for August 2021.

WHO said it is important to note that there is still ongoing community transmission in all districts in the country, and case and death numbers, remain very high in most districts of East and South.

It said in July, the number of new deaths (699) showed a 100% increase compared with 350 deaths. As a result, the mortality rate for Aug increased from 5.1 to 10.3 deaths per 100,000 cases, with a case fatality rate of 1.3%.

"The national positivity rate for August dropped to 25.5% from 32.8% in July, representing the West with a positivity rate of 23.8%. However, it increased in the East (from 28.7% to 38.3%) and South (from 61% to 70%), differing markedly from the national-level positivity rate. Therefore, national numbers of cases, deaths and lab tests are mainly represented. West WHO recommends that positivity rates should be kept below 5% in all districts in a country." WHO explained.