THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The milder narrative built around Omicron even before it hit the state has been debunked with more than 1,300 Covid deaths being reported in Kerala in the last three weeks. The daily death count registered a 50% increase during the period.
Omicron accounts for 90% of the Covid cases reported since the start of the third wave in the state on January 1. The number of deaths has been increasing steadily ever since, with the daily death count moving up to 150 from 100 earlier.
As many as 1,307 deaths occured during the period. The deceased included seven children aged below 10, four of them less than one year. Kerala has reported the maximum number of deaths in the third wave while it stands second, after Maharashtra, in terms of total Covid deaths. The state added 10,637 deaths in January which include the backlog starting from October 22 last year.
The spike in deaths has once again raised questions about the reporting standards and the effect the virus has on a largely morbid population. While health experts are divided on the cause of deaths, they refrain from making comparisons with other states due to the dearth of comparable data. There is also a consensus of opinion that the prevalence of multiple comorbidities among the population is directly contributing to the increase in death count.
“These days, many patients are put in ICU and on ventilator support because of their primary medical condition and not because of Omicron. They test positive upon arrival,” said Dr A Fathahudeen, head of the department of pulmonary and critical care and the nodal officer for Covid in Ernakulam MCH.
He said people with chronic kidney and liver diseases and cancer are mostly admitted in ICUs while the proportion of healthy people with Covid severity has reduced considerably. Indian Medical Association Vice-President Dr Gopikumar P said Covid death numbers have shot up because of the lack of attention to non-Covid treatment.
‘Death among children distinguishes impact of Covid third wave in state’
The disease burden has increased because a lot of people have stopped receiving regular treatment, he said. According to the health department, diabetes and hypertension together form the most common cause of patient death. It also pointed out the delay in getting treatment by people with comorbidities when they get Covid infection as another reason for worsening the outcome.
Internal medicine specialist and public health activist Dr N M Arun said only a thorough study could reveal if comorbidity was the major contributing factor towards deaths. “More deaths were expected considering the age and morbidity of the population. But it is the death among children which is one factor that distinguishes the impact of the third wave from the previous waves.
However, we do not have data on age-wise test positivity rate,” he said. “Omicron is not a strain to be ignored completely as a mild one. A viral attack over a morbid condition could worsen the outcome. While hypertension and diabetes are actively checked in patients, other comorbidities are largely ignored,” said Dr Jeemon Panniyammakal, Assistant Professor (Epidemiology), Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology.
According to Jeemon, who has done extensive studies on comorbidities, 40% of the adult population has multiple morbidities. “Even children have comorbidities such as autoimmune diseases and type 1 diabetes. How many children get infected is an important denominator to assess whether the present numbers are of concern. But we don’t have the data,” he added.