Centre spells out rules for issuing death certificates for Covid-19 patients

The Centre has told the Supreme Court that the health ministry and the Indian Council of Medical Research have come out with guidelines for issuing "official document" for Covid-related deaths.

According to the guidelines, those cases that have been diagnosed through RT-PCR test, molecular test, rapid-antigen test or clinically determined at a hospital or in-patient facility by a treating physician, while admitted at the hospital or in-patient facility will be considered Covid cases.

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Deaths occurring due to poisoning, suicide, homicide and accident, among others, will not be considered as Covid-19 deaths even if the disease is an accompanying condition, the guidelines stated.

An ICMR study say that 95% of Covid-19 deaths occur within 25 days of a person testing Covid-19 positive but the govt has decided to consider deaths occurring within 30 days from the date of testing or from the date of being clinically determined as a Covid-19 case as Covid-19 death, even if the death takes place outside the hospital/in-patient facility.