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The remains of only five people who died with confirmed Covid-19 have been the subject of post-mortem examinations, according to official figures.
The number of autopsies generally carried out this year has decreased as the epidemic has spread, despite an increase in the total number of deaths.
The Dublin district medical examiner is ordering autopsies be performed in circumstances where the law requires it, he told The Irish Times. Five of these autopsies of Covid-19 deceased were carried out in Dublin in the first four months of the year, the office said.
Neither has been performed at Cork University Hospital (CUH), the other location equipped to handle autopsies on infectious bodies.
By Sunday night, there were 1,458 Covid-19 related deaths. There is no breakdown of deaths in the county, but half of all cases have been reported in Dublin.
Underlying conditions
An autopsy can show whether a person died from the virus (that is, it was the immediate cause of death) or from the virus (that is, it was a factor along with others, such as the underlying conditions).
In other countries, autopsies have uncovered new research information about how the virus causes serious illness in some patients. They have also revealed previous cases of the disease that had been officially registered.
A total of 106 autopsies were carried out in April, compared to 143 in the same month in 2019, according to the Dublin district coroner.
The number of online death warnings in April, a preliminary indicator of excess mortality, nearly doubled compared to the same month in 2019.
Post-mortem figures for Dublin in March were 123 (137 in 2019), for February 118 (136 a year earlier) and for January 134 (179 in 2019).
A CUH spokesman said, “We have not yet needed to perform an autopsy on a deceased person with a confirmed diagnosis of Covid-19.”
The total number of autopsies performed in Cork in the first four months of the year was 252, up from 291 in the same period in 2019, despite the increase in deaths.
Infectious remains
According to CUH, with the start of Covid-19, an agreement was reached with the state pathologist’s office, the coroner and pathology staff that “each case would be judged on its own individual merit.”
Because positive Covid-19 cases remain infectious for a period after death, the only two places where autopsies can be safely performed are Dublin City Mortuary and CUH mortuary.
Autopsies are sometimes performed in larger hospitals, but these do not have the facilities to handle the Covid-19 exams.
Last month Dublin City Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane warned that not all Covid-19 deaths were reported as required by law.
She wrote to medical personnel in hospitals and other places who are responsible for completing death certificates, saying that they must meet the requirement to report “any proven or suspected Covid-19 deaths” to her office.
In March, the forensic medical service ruled that autopsies of people who had died with coronaviruses would not be necessary in most cases, unless “other circumstances were present.”
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