The coronavirus was the main cause of death in Colombia between January and October 2020, according to official statistics released Wednesday, December 23.
The pandemic has overtaken all other natural and “
external
”
causes of death
, corresponding to homicides, accidents or suicides, for both men and women.
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“
From the beginning of the year until October 31, for the first ten months, the causal pattern of deaths in the country has changed and the Covid-19 has become the main cause of death,
” said Juan Daniel Oviedo, director of the National Administrative Department of Statistics (Dane), during a press conference.
According to the director of Dane, during these ten months, 238,209 deaths were recorded, including 214,863 deaths from natural causes, 46,354 of them linked to covid-19.
This report shows a 29.1% increase in natural deaths, additional deaths "
almost all of which is associated with mortality for Covid-19
", he said.
There may be an under-registration of these deaths, as surveillance systems can only confirm "
15 to 25% of cases
" of Covid-19, due to a large percentage of asymptomatics, according to the report. Ministry of Health.
Men were more affected by the new coronavirus in Colombia, where it accounted for nearly 22% of male deaths, compared to 17% among women.
The other causes of male death were heart disease (14.3%) followed by homicides (6.7%), while for women heart failure accounted for 15% of deaths, followed by cerebrovascular problems (6, 2%).
The director of Dane added that in the third quarter of 2020 there was a 10% drop in deaths from external causes in women, as traffic deaths fell by 36.4% during confinement.
The first case of Covid-19 was detected in early March in Colombia, which has so far recorded 1.5 million, including nearly 41,000 deaths for 50 million inhabitants.
This country is the 3rd in Latin America for the number of cases and the 4th for the number of deaths due to Covid-19.