New Delhi, Feb 4 (PTI) Of the 693 fatalities recorded in Delhi between January 13 and February 3, COVID-19 was the primary cause of death in only 23.5 per cent of the cases, according to official data.

In 530 cases, the COVID-19 finding was incidental while in nine cases, the virus was detected among trauma patients.

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An analysis of the data showed that of the 693 deaths recorded during the period, the virus was the primary cause in 163 cases.

In 530 fatalities, the finding of the virus was incidental as the patients had comorbidities and were ailing for long, according to officials.

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"The deaths where COVID-19 is reported in the patients are treated as coronavirus deaths. It is an established principle. We have a panel of experts and the analysis was done to see whether there was a pattern to the pneumonia that was typical of Covid, but it was found that the fatalities were among those who were end-stage patients," an official had said earlier.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain has been stressing that a majority of the patients who succumbed to COVID-19 during the third wave of the pandemic had comorbidities.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)