NVSC Chief: Higher COVID-19 Deaths and Deaths from Other Diseases

R. Petraitis explained at a press conference how such a situation arose.

“First of all, I would like to draw everyone’s attention to the fact that it was we who found the discrepancy in the number of deaths from coronavirus, as reported by medical institutions and death certificates. On December 18, that discrepancy was 804 cases. And really, now I would like to tell you how it was determined, “he explained at a press conference.

R. Petraitis stated that in December NVSC requested updated data.

“After information about possible excessive deaths emerged in December, the NVSC contacted the Center of Records, the processor of health data, and requested the data from the death certificates of those who had ever been diagnosed with coronavirus. We analyze the data received and compare it with what we receive from medical institutions, ”said R. Petraitis at the press conference.

He said the analysis had been carried out on December 17 and the Ministry of Health had been informed. Subsequently, a separate meeting was organized with representatives of the Ministry.

“Where did he come from? It is due to the fact that several medical institutions did not report the deaths to the NVSC. The list of institutions is very large, 3 pages, these are the main institutions that fight against the coronavirus. (…) Just me I would like to say that the largest number of those 804 cases were solved in December, ”said the NVSC director.

During the time the discrepancy was identified, NVSC worked intensively with medical institutions to clarify the situation.

“It wasn’t like we closed our eyes and sat for a few weeks. Each death, I want to emphasize, is individual, ”he said.

R. Petraitis indicated that several cases were recorded in which deaths from coronavirus were assessed, however, people had already recovered from this infection.

The information updated in the last days of last year showed an even greater discrepancy.

“As of December 30, that discrepancy is 1,171 cases. 441 deaths from coronavirus, the rest from other causes, once they were diagnosed with coronavirus. Currently we cannot say that the 666 people had coronavirus and died from other causes. It is possible that have recovered from the infection, “he said.

The head of the NVSC stated that this is not just an NVSC problem, but a systemic one.

“I have received many complaints about my work, if the deficiencies of the activities of the institution are identified, or personally I think that I will really assume that responsibility,” explained the head of the NVSC.

Quarantine pays off

The director of the NVSC, R. Petraitis, said that in the opinion of the center’s specialists, the quarantine restrictions introduced by the Government are already bearing fruit.

“It just came to our knowledge then. The number of cases is not increasing that intensely anymore, that morbidity curve is quite flat. Now it is very difficult to evaluate, since the number of laboratory tests fluctuates on holidays. But the fact That there is no very fast growing morbidity, I think, is a consequence of the restrictions that have been applied, ”he said.

The number of people in contact has also decreased.

“Another thing our specialists notice is the decrease in the number of people who have been in contact. Consequently, social interaction has decreased. If at the end of the summer, in September, we had outbreaks of 100 to 200 people in contact, then that situation does not happen now, several people. In our opinion, this is also a consequence of the restrictions we have imposed, ”explained R. Petraitis.

Unaccounted for deaths

Delphi recalls that last week, following a meeting with Health Minister Arūnas Dulkis, the media were informed that 804 missing coronavirus-related deaths had been found during the digitization of NVSC activities.

According to the Ministry, a comparison of October and December data from the NVSC and the Registry Center revealed that there were no 324 deaths from coronavirus and 480 deaths from other causes of death from coronavirus.

A. Dulkys discussed this issue with R. Petraitis during a remote meeting Tuesday and asked to provide a detailed written assessment of the situation.

Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė later declared that the NVSC leadership should be held accountable for the situation.

New infections

The NVSC was also criticized on Friday, when 130 deaths were reported on the first day of the New Year, but they also included people who died earlier but were not reported by hospitals.

“It just came to our attention then. These are late deaths that were not properly reported to us by medical institutions. They were asked on our own initiative to send us that information,” said Austina Vžesniauskaitė, NVSC representative.

According to her, after being criticized for not counting deaths from COVID-19, the center contacted hospitals to provide information on the deaths. This must be done by medical institutions by filling out a special form.

The institutions responded to this request and there was a large increase in deaths in one day.
A. Vžesniauskaitė emphasized that this information was provided later and not through the fault of the center.

“We cannot predict how many deaths there were in each institution that were not reported to us,” he said.

Last day 1239 new cases of coronavirus were confirmed in Lithuania, 27 more people died from COVID-19, the Statistics Department reported on Sunday.

587 patients also recovered on the last day.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 146,000 people have been infected with COVID-19. 637 people, 66 thousand. 782 – still sick, 77 thousand. 362 – recovered.

A total of 1,643 people died from coronavirus in Lithuania and 850 people died from other causes.

Last day 6,399 samples were analyzed for suspected coronavirus, bringing the total number of samples analyzed since the start of the pandemic to 1 million. 651 thousand 623.