What is considered as a COVID-19 death and why it matters
NEW DELHI: As the death toll from the COVID-19 epidemic in India rose to 50 on Thursday morning, more than two months after the first positive case was reported in Kerala on January 30, an interesting trend observed world across is that many countries are showing extensive differences in the death rates in their respective regions.
However, one explanation for this vast variability could be how administrations are defining a COVID-19 death. Many countries are counting deaths of all patients positive for the novel Coronavirus, irrespective of what the cause of death is.
While some states like West Bengal have now said that at least three patients who had tested positive for COVID-19 died due to underlying medical conditions such as chronic renal failure and hypertension. But Bengal has decided not to include these deaths in their COVID-19 death toll. On the other hand, the Central government in response to an email told this newspaper that they are considering the death of any patient who tested positive for the virus.
This is in keeping with many other countries like Spain and Italy, two nations that now have the highest number of deaths in the world. However, the scientific advisor to Italy's health minister has said that only around 12 per cent of COVID-19 deaths had the novel Coronavirus as the cause of death.
Moreover, given the nature of the virus to affect the older population more than the younger, some countries might be reporting a higher number of deaths owing to the age demographic in their respective populations. So, how hard is it to identify whether COVID-19 is what killed a patient?
Of course, identifying COVID-19 as the cause of death in a patient with no underlying medical conditions could be relatively easy. But many who are testing positive for the novel Coronavirus have long medical histories and underlying conditions, that result in their deaths. For example, on Wednesday, Bengal had reported that all three patients who had reportedly tested positive were suffering from Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) but passed away due to renal failure, respiratory failure and hypertension respectively.
Moreover, experts and medical professionals said that it is very difficult to conclude whether a patient with an underlying condition would have died if they did not have COVID-19.
"See, it is not very easy to determine whether the patient would have died if not for the virus in these cases, so most countries are doing their best to just report deaths of all patients who test positive," a Pulmonologist in one of Kolkata's hospitals currently dealing with COVID-19 patients said.