Peru changed criteria for identifying coronavirus deaths and added 110,000 more deaths

Peru adjusted this Monday to almost triple its death toll from the coronavirus. In total, they total 180,764, which represents 110,000 other fatal cases than the ones I had on Sunday. The country is only below Brazil and Mexico for the number of deaths in Latin America.

The figure that had been reported since the start of the pandemic was 69.342, as recorded in the last recording from the Johns Hopkins University website.

The announcement was made at the Presidential Palace during the presentation of the results of a task force commissioned by scientists to analyze and update the death toll.

“What is said is that a significant number of people who have died they were not classified as caused by covid-19Health Minister Oscar Ugarte said. He said previously only those who “tested positive” were considered to have died from the virus.

Others have been incorporated seven criteria identify a deceased person with the virus, including those who, through their symptoms, a doctor attribute their death to COVID-19.

It is also considered a “probable case” which “has an epidemiological link with a confirmed case”.

“Thanks to the work of this team […] we are going to have more comprehensive figures and figures which will be very useful in monitoring the pandemic and taking the appropriate measures to deal with it, ”said government number two Violeta Bermúdez.

The controversy that deaths from the virus were greater than those recorded by the government began shortly after the start of the pandemic. Packed cemeteries and the purchase of refrigerated mortuary containers for dozens of hospitals showed a different picture.

The devastation of the coronavirus has increased the poor by three million and poverty has skyrocketed to figures of ten years ago. The new death toll from COVID-19 runs from early March 2020 to May 22.

The report by the group of scientists concluded that official reports were affected “primarily by the limited staff in epidemiology offices, the high number of deaths to be investigated in hospitals at the time of the greatest pandemic activity, as well as by the time it takes to have the results of the laboratory tests, to review the medical file of the deceased, among other things, ”according to El Comercio.

In total, according to John Hopkins, the country brings in more than 1,955,000 infections.

With information from the AP and AFP

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