The death of the 11-year-old child, whose admittance to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) was due to complications with cancer, and who eventually tested positive for the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), will be re-classified as a COVID-19 related death.
This is according to the Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr Narine Singh, who noted that the reclassification is in keeping with guidelines from the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The child, who lived in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), was admitted on November 4, 2020 and died on November 6, 2020 due to leukemia, a cancer of the blood.
The section of the WHO guidelines relating to the classification of deaths states that “a death due to COVID-19 is defined for surveillance purposes as a death resulting from a clinically compatible illness, in a probable or confirmed COVID-19 case, unless there is a clear alternative cause of death that cannot be related to COVID disease (e.g. trauma).”
Before death, the patient was tested for COVID-19, and this turned out to be positive, but there were no symptoms of the COVID-19 disease.
According to the WHO guidelines, since her death was not caused by COVID-19, but she was COVID-19 positive at the time of death, it is to be recorded as a COVID-19 related death.
The child’s demise now takes the COVID-19 death toll to 142.
