Of 2,697 patients, who succumbed to COVID-19 during August in Karnataka, 93% were symptomatic. While 38% had only breathlessness as a symptom, 37% had breathlessness and other symptoms, such as cough and fever. However, in Chamarajanagar, Uttara Kannada, and Yadgir districts, 50% of the deceased were asymptomatic.
The youngest patient who died due to COVID during August was a four-month-old baby in Hassan (Patient No. 2367890), who was recorded as a patient with co-morbidities (diabetes and hypertension).
The oldest were three 96-year-old patients (2 males and 1 female) from Shivamogga, Mandya, and Uttara Kannada.
According to an analysis by Project Jeevan Raksha, a public-private initiative involving Public Health Foundation of India, the Indian Medical Association, and Proxima, a management consulting firm, 94% of the deceased had breathlessness as a symptom.
Over 90% of the deceased in eight of the 30 districts had Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI). In Bagalkot district, all those who died during August had breathlessness, cough, and fever, while 44% from Mandya had only cough. While 67.5% of the deceased had SARI, 17% had Influenza Like-Illness (ILI). The source of infection could not be traced in 15%.
Making a presentation on the analysis on Friday, Mysore Sanjeev, convener of Project Jeevan Raksha, said a key observation was that asymptomatic COVID-19 patients have a relatively lower risk of death when compared to symptomatic patients.
Co-morbidities
One-third (33.33%) of the 2,697 victims had no co-morbidities. All those who died in Kodagu district and 89% of the deaths from Yadgir district had no co-morbidities.
Among those who had co-morbidities, 47% of the victims were diabetic and 21% had both diabetes and hypertension.
“While 55% of the victims in Raichur district had hypertension alone, nearly 1/4th of those in Bengaluru Urban had both diabetes and hypertension. Those with diabetes and/or hypertension are at high risk,” he said.
Apart from the four-month-old baby, a 11-year-old boy who had hypertension also succumbed to the virus in Dakshina Kannada.
Asserting that these deaths should be investigated, Mr. Sanjeev said: “There are two critical issues here: accuracy of the diagnosis and competence of the doctors who treated these children. While the baby died in a government hospital, the boy passed away in a private hospital. We need to find out if they were given appropriate treatment.”
Brought dead
While 3% of the victims were brought dead to the hospital, 1.1% died in their residence. While 17% died on the same day of their admission to the hospital, 51% died within 100 hours of admission to the hospital. Nearly 45% of the deaths occurred in COVID-19 Designated Hospitals (DCHs) and 27% died in private hospitals. The place of death has not been disclosed for 25.4% of the victims in August.
Although, 3,425 patients died in August, only 2,697 deaths were analysed as the details of all patients were not made available on the Health Department’s website,
