The total number of deaths due to COVID-19 topped 90 on two days in July in Tamil Nadu. On July 21, 96 persons — with and without co-morbidities — died across the State, while 92 died on July 24.
Till now, the maximum number of deaths recorded in the Health Department’s daily bulletin is 89 — on July 25. But the deaths reported on each day in the bulletin is an account of the deaths that had occurred in three to four days, while sometimes even deaths that occurred a week or two weeks ago are also accounted for.
An analysis of day-wise deaths using data provided in the bulletin from July 1 to 28 showed that more than 90 patients died on two days so far in July. As of July 29, Tamil Nadu accounted for a total of 3,741 deaths, of which 444 were added after a reconciliation exercise recently. July alone has accounted for more than 2,000 deaths as the previous month ended with 1,201 deaths.
From July 17, the number of deaths reported in the bulletin has stayed in the range of 70 to 89 every day. Apart from Chennai, more number of districts are recording deaths of COVID-19 patients in the past few weeks.
Main causes
A senior government doctor in Chennai said that among the main causes of death were the complications from co-morbidities such as diabetes, hypertension and renal failure. “COVID-19 aggravates the underlying illnesses in patients. Obesity is one of the highest risk factors for mortality in COVID-19. If a COVID-19 patient is asymptomatic and his/her body mass index is 28 or 30, we consider the patient as being at high risk,” he said.
Late referrals of patients from private hospitals continue to be an issue for government hospitals. “Many private hospitals are referring COVID-19 patients to government hospitals once complications set in. If six to seven persons die in the hospital per day, three of them are referred from private hospitals at the last minute. Similarly, patients are being referred from neighbouring districts, too,” he said.
Among the causes for increased mortality were late presentation, the co-morbid conditions of diabetes, hypertension and obesity, the pre-existing lung diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary artery disease, chronic kidney disease and severity of disease, a hospital authority said.
“For instance, when persons with the pre-existing lung diseases come in at a later stage of COVID-19, the chance of improvement of their lungs is slightly less. However, some patients have recovered with treatment,” he added.
An official of the Health Department said they were making efforts to improve the survival rate of COVID-19 patients.
