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Circular issued on criteria to identify Covid deaths

27 May 2021

The Director General of Health Services Dr Asela Gunawardene has issued a special circular to all doctors regarding the criteria to identify whether a death can be certified as a result of Covid. Those criteria include the clinical confirmation if a person has died of Covid-19 symptoms. Although a person with a chronic illness has been diagnosed with Covid-19 infection at the time of death, the deaths are calculated separately and only after there is evidence that Covid-19 infection is the leading cause of death is it recorded as a Covid death. The circular stated that the recommendations of the World Health Organization should also be followed to confirm the death of a person as Covid death and it is mandatory to mark it as Covid-19 infected death when recording the death certificate. The circular issued by the Director General of Health Services further states that even if the PCR examination of a person after death identifies the person as having Covid infection, the post mortem report should clearly state that the main cause of death is Covid-19 infection.


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