{"id":395993,"date":"2020-05-07T16:48:14","date_gmt":"2020-05-07T14:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=395993"},"modified":"2020-05-07T16:48:14","modified_gmt":"2020-05-07T14:48:14","slug":"why-the-western-cape-says-it-reports-more-covid-19-deaths-than-other-provinces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/395993\/why-the-western-cape-says-it-reports-more-covid-19-deaths-than-other-provinces\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the Western Cape says it reports more Covid-19 deaths than other provinces"},"content":{"rendered":"

Western Cape Premier Alan Winde has outlined the province’s approach to the testing of the coronavirus and how it reports its cases.<\/p>\n

In a media briefing on Thursday (7 May), Winde said that he has been inundated with questions from both the public and the media as to why the Western Cape has more deaths than other provinces.<\/p>\n

However, he noted that the Western Cape does not necessarily have a higher mortality rate than other countries, and is not higher than other provinces.<\/p>\n

“It is essential that we accurately report and record every single death of a person who was infected with Covid-19.<\/p>\n

“This sounds obvious, but it is not that simple. As we will share below, most of the people who have passed away due to Covid-19 had serious comorbidities. This includes diabetes, hypertension and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.”<\/p>\n

Winde said that the coronavirus\u00a0can cause severe pneumonia, amongst other ailments, which can become fatal, especially in older persons and these people with underlying health conditions.<\/p>\n

It is therefore entirely possible for a death to occur in a health system, and for the cause of the death to only be noted as one of these underlying health conditions, he said.<\/p>\n

“This is essential because this information, like the number of infections, provides us with data on the progression of the virus, and its transmission. And this data is essential to making sure our health system is prepared to respond at the peak of the crisis.<\/p>\n

“The Western Cape\u2019s Department of Health both understands this and takes this very seriously. We believe that we are accurately recording Covid-19 positive deaths in the province because of our rigorous systems and institutional expertise.”<\/p>\n

Winde said that it is important that this happens across the country. “If it does not, data will become incomparable and the effectiveness of its analysis might be impacted,” he said.<\/p>\n

He provided the below statistics which show the breakdown of deaths to date in the Western Cape, based on co-morbidities and age:<\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Co-morbidities<\/th>\n% of deaths<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
HIV<\/td>\n13%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Diabetes<\/td>\n34%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Obesity<\/td>\n6%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Hypertension<\/td>\n31%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Previous TB<\/td>\n1%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cardiac<\/td>\n8%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Chronic kidney disease<\/td>\n3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease<\/td>\n4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
More than one comorbidity<\/td>\n32%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
No comorbidities<\/td>\n41%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

*Note that the table reflects that some patients had more than one comorbidity.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

“Our analysis of Covid-19 related deaths in the Western Cape, done when we had 64 deaths on Tuesday (5 May), found that our death rate is at 1.8%,” Winde said.<\/p>\n

“At this stage, this is in line with international data on the progression of the virus in other countries. As it stands now, the death rate is not higher in the Western Cape than it is elsewhere in the world and is likely to be the same rate countrywide (accurate reporting of data assumed).”<\/p>\n

Winde said that other observations include:<\/p>\n