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Updated: May 1, 2020 6:54:38 am
On Thursday, West Bengal reported that it had 572 cases of “active” Coronaviruses. A total of 139 people who had previously tested positive had recovered, while 33 had died.
On Wednesday, West Bengal revealed that 105 people infected with the coronavirus had died in the state, but maintained that only 33 of these deaths could be directly attributed to COVID-19. The other 72 had pre-existing diseases, or comorbidities, and the fact that they had also tested positive for coronavirus was “incidental,” said Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha.
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The latest numbers were revealed by an expert committee that was formed to conduct an audit of all reported coronavirus deaths in the state and assess the exact reasons.
“The Death Audit Committee has recommended that Health Department officials maintain more patient records and improve the record keeping procedure. The committee also advised that there should be a uniform format for issuing death certificates. The committee reported that death certificates must have an immediate cause of death, a prior cause of death and an underlying cause of death, “Sinha said.
West Bengal formed this committee on April 2. As of that day, the state had reported seven deaths, but the government revised it downward to three, citing the same reason.
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On April 24, the expert committee released its first report in which it had said that of the 57 deaths from coronavirus-positive patients in the state so far, only 18 could be directly attributed to COVID-19.
Comorbid conditions in people who die from COVID-19 are not uncommon. In fact, more than 50 percent of people who have died in India had a pre-existing disease: diabetes and hypertension were the most common. The details of many of the others are unknown, and a significant number, even among them, may have comorbid conditions.
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Most other states have included the deaths of all those who tested positive for their COVID-19 toll. And, no state has reported such a big difference in the number of actual deaths from coronavirus-positive patients, and those whose deaths were determined to be primarily caused by COVID-19.
However, in the footsteps of West Bengal, several have also formed death audit committees. Delhi, Mumbai and Punjab authorities have announced that expert committees will assess the cause of death in all cases in which a positive patient dies.
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On Thursday, West Bengal reported that it had 572 cases of “active” Coronaviruses. A total of 139 people who had previously tested positive had recovered, while 33 had died.
That would give the state a total of 744 cases. But, adding to the other 72 who died, since it was confirmed that they tested positive, the total number of cases would reach 816. This would mean that at least one in every eight people who tested positive in the state died. No other state in the country has such a high case fatality rate.
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The Indian Express has reported that West Bengal was the state with the fastest spread of the disease at this time and the shortest doubling time.
In the past 24 hours, Sinha said, 1,905 samples were analyzed. Overall, the 14 designated laboratories in the state have analyzed 16,525 samples. “One of our test labs has not been working in the past three days due to some technical problems. Two more private laboratories were added to the list, but did not start testing samples of COVID-19, “said Sinha.
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According to a report from the Department of Health, positive cases are now reported mainly from the districts of Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly and North 24 Parganas.
“Throughout the state, there are 444 containment zones, of which the main zones are from three districts, Kolkata, Howrah and North 24 Parganas. In Kolkata, there are 264 containment zones. At Howrah and North 24 Parganas, there are 72 and 70 containment zones, respectively, ”the report states.
Official figures show that 5,288 people are in government quarantine and 10,773 in the home.
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