Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (MS)

Mangaluru, Jul 27: With the increasing number of deaths in the district, a question is cropping up in the minds of general public that whether Covid-19 virus is the cause for all these deaths or the people who got admitted to hospitals for other ailments and died and their swab test after the death was found to be positive?

According to the statistics provided by the district administration till Sunday, July 26, 123 people have died in the district of Dakshina Kannada due to Covid-19 virus. In the last three days, 24 people have died. But it is not very clear whether coronavirus infection is the direct cause or there is some other reason.

One important fact that needs to be noticed is that most of the people who have died are in the age group of 60 and 70 years. Out of this, most of the people were suffering from diseases related to kidney, liver, lungs, heart, leukemia and diabetes. So the primary reason for their death is other reasons and Covid-19 infection is secondary factor. So one must understand that all the 123 deaths that have taken place in the district are not directly due to coronavirus, but primarily due to other ailments.

For example a patient suffering from heart ailment visits the hospital on emergency condition of the heart. He succumbs due to heart-related problem. When his throat swab is taken after death, he tests positive. Now the question that arises is that whether he died of heart attack or coronavirus infection.

Speaking to Daijiworld, Dr Rathankar, acting district health officer said, "People are scared of coronavirus deaths. If we go through the list of 123 deaths, most of the people who have died are above the age of 60 and 70. They also had co-morbid (some other ailment like kidney, liver, heart, lung, blood cancer and brain hemorrhage) conditions while getting admitted to hospital. When we analyze, it is clear that the co-morbid reason is the primary cause and Covid-19 infection is the secondary cause of death. For example, a person who is suffering from cancer will have the disease spread to all parts of his body (Metastasis) and would have died anyway even if he or she would not have got infected with Covid-19. So it is not right to say that the person died due to coronavirus. Moreover, if we tally the deaths that have occurred in the previous years, the numbers are the same.

"There is no reason for the general public to panic. More than 70 to 80 percent of the people who are testing positive for coronavirus are asymptomatic at present. They do not exhibit any symptoms of Covid-19. They get cured within no time if their body resistance is good. So I hereby confirm in an open form like media that all the deaths that have occurred in the district of Dakshina Kannada are not due to Covid-19. People have to understand this fact. No one should get scared that he or she will die the moment they test positive for Covid-19. Only few deaths out of the total 123 reported so far have occurred due to genuine Covid-19 related reasons, while all others are due to other co-morbid factors."