diff --git a/src/utils/helpers.test.ts b/src/utils/helpers.test.ts
index 5a72a6f073..35989f8a8c 100644
--- a/src/utils/helpers.test.ts
+++ b/src/utils/helpers.test.ts
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ describe('src/utils/helpers', () => {
   describe('calculateTotalComments Function', () => {
     it('should return 0 when item has no updates', () => {
       const item = { item: {} } as any
-      expect(calculateTotalComments(item)).toBe('0')
+      expect(calculateTotalComments(item)).toBe(0)
     })
 
     it('should return 0 when updates have no comments', () => {
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ describe('src/utils/helpers', () => {
           }),
         ),
       } as IResearch.ItemDB | IItem
-      expect(calculateTotalComments(item)).toBe('0')
+      expect(calculateTotalComments(item)).toBe(0)
     })
 
     it('should return the correct amount of comments', () => {
@@ -234,7 +234,7 @@ describe('src/utils/helpers', () => {
           }),
         ),
       } as IResearch.ItemDB | IItem
-      expect(calculateTotalComments(item)).toBe('9')
+      expect(calculateTotalComments(item)).toBe(9)
     })
 
     it('should ignore deleted and draft updates', () => {
@@ -260,7 +260,7 @@ describe('src/utils/helpers', () => {
             }),
           ]),
       } as IResearch.ItemDB | IItem
-      expect(calculateTotalComments(item)).toBe('4')
+      expect(calculateTotalComments(item)).toBe(4)
     })
   })
 
diff --git a/src/utils/helpers.ts b/src/utils/helpers.ts
index 55db65bb25..1af440b198 100644
--- a/src/utils/helpers.ts
+++ b/src/utils/helpers.ts
@@ -167,7 +167,9 @@ export const isAllowedToPin = (pin: IMapPin, user?: IUser) => {
   }
 }
 
-export const calculateTotalComments = (item: IResearch.ItemDB | IItem) => {
+export const calculateTotalComments = (
+  item: IResearch.ItemDB | IItem,
+): number => {
   if (item.updates) {
     const commentOnUpdates = item.updates.reduce((totalComments, update) => {
       const updateCommentsLength =
@@ -177,9 +179,9 @@ export const calculateTotalComments = (item: IResearch.ItemDB | IItem) => {
       return totalComments + updateCommentsLength
     }, 0)
 
-    return commentOnUpdates ? String(commentOnUpdates) : '0'
+    return commentOnUpdates ? commentOnUpdates : 0
   } else {
-    return '0'
+    return 0
   }
 }