While over 70% of the 645 COVID-19 deaths reported during January happened in ICUs, over two-thirds were due to comorbidities, especially in those aged above 60, according to an initial assessment of the district death audits by the State Health Department.
To identify deaths that can be attributed only to COVID-19 and the underlying cause in deaths where COVID-19 findings were incidental, the State had recently taken up a comprehensive audit of deaths that happened during the third wave. All districts and the BBMP were asked to audit the 645 deaths reported from January 1 till January 31. The department has now received audit reports from all the districts.
According to the initial assessment, only 13 of the 645 deaths are paediatric deaths and most of these child cases had pre-existing medical conditions. So far, a total of 70 children in the 0-9 age group and 101 in the 10-19 age group have succumbed to the disease, according to data from the State War Room.
