PATTERN OF FATALITIES DURING THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC LOCKDOWN PERIOD: ANAUTOPSY BASED STUDY

ABSTRACT

Since December 2019, the COVID-19 virus has been creating havoc and has spread to almost every corner of the world. The ongoing condition has several repercussions like deterioration in public mental health and rise in suicide cases. Amidst all the negativities, there is some good news. There have been fewer deaths due to road traffic and railway accidents. The aim of our study was to study the pattern of deaths occurring during the Covid 19 pandemic lockdown period. The specific objectives were to study the demographic profile of the deceased persons, to analyse the manner of deaths during the study period and to correlate the precipitating factors to the cause of deaths. A total of 809 cases in 2019 and 553 cases in 2020 were included in the study respectively. As compared to previous year study period there were fewer number of deaths due to crashes and accidents but there has been an increase in deaths due to suicides. In gender and age comparison, suicide rates in males is more than in females, and maximum number of suicides have been observed in the age group of 21-30 years. Poisoning has remained the most common manner of suicide in both the years. Even rate of homicide has increased in 2020. Number of sudden deaths and death due to natural disease has almost remained constant. © 2021, Medico Legal Society. All rights reserved.