Covid-19 was the main cause of death in Colombia between January and October, according to Dane

The new coronavirus became the main cause of death in Colombia between January and October 2020, according to official data released this Wednesday.

“In the year running until October 31, the first ten months of the year, the pattern of causation of death in the country changed and covid-19 becomes the first cause of death,” Juan Daniel Oviedo said at a press conference , director of the National Administrative Department of Statistics, Dane.

The pandemic exceeds all natural causes and the so-called “external”, corresponding to homicides, accidents or suicides, both in men and women, added Oviedo.

According to the head of the entity, in that period of time there were 238,209 deaths, of which 214,863 were due to natural causes and 46,354 of them associated with the virus.

The balance reflected a 29.1% increase in natural deaths, “of which almost all are associated with mortality from covid-19,” Oviedo said.

However, there may be an underreporting since epidemiological surveillance systems allow knowing only “15-25% of cases” of covid-19, due to the high percentage of asymptomatic, according to the Ministry of Health.

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The disease hit men more in Colombia, where the new coronavirus represented almost 22% of all male deaths, while in women it was 17%.

In the case of men, the causes that followed were ischemic heart diseases (14.3%) and homicides (6.7%), while in women heart disease represented 15% of deaths, followed by cerebrovascular diseases (6.2%).

The head of Dane explained that in the third quarter of 2020 there was a 10% reduction in deaths from external causes in women, due to the fact that deaths from land transport accidents fell by 36.4% in the midst of confinement.

More than 35,000 deaths between March and October

In the first ten months of the year, 35,703 lost their lives in the country due to the covid-19 pandemic, according to Dane figures.

In addition to these deaths, the report says, 10,651 cases are suspected of having died from these same causes and 4,241 more people died from pneumonia and influenza.

The first death from suspected covid-19 was registered on March 2, while the first confirmed was on March 16.

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