Covid fatalities to be counted as such despite comorbidities

NEW DELHI: The Centre has told the Supreme Court in an affidavit that all deaths of people diagnosed with Covid-19, irrespective of comorbidities, will be treated as Covid-19 deaths.

In its submission on June 19, the government said that a Covid-19

GOVT SAID IT HAS ALREADY TAKEN SEVERAL STEPS:

death must be certified as such and lapses will invite penal action. “The only exception could be where there is a clear alternative cause of death, that cannot be attributed to Covid-19, where Covid-19 is an incidental finding...,” the statement read.

Reproducing the text from an October 2020 letter of the health ministry, the affidavit said: “All deaths with a diagnosis of COVID-19, irrespective of co-morbidities, are to be classified as deaths due to COVID-19.”

According to the guidelines issued last year, Covid-19 must be identified as the cause of death when a person dies of pneumonia, cardiac injury, and blood clotting that the infection is known to cause.