COVID-19 mortality sentinel surveillance at a tertiary referral hospital in Lusaka, Zambia, 2020-2021.

ABSTRACT: Deaths from COVID-19 likely exceeded official statistics in Zambia because of limited testing and incomplete death registration. We describe a sentinel COVID-19 mortality surveillance system in Lusaka, Zambia. We analyzed surveillance data on deceased persons of all ages undergoing verbal autopsy (VA) and COVID-19 testing at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) mortuary in Lusaka, Zambia, from April 2020 through August 2021. VA was done by surveillance officers for community deaths and in-patient deaths that occurred <48 hours after admission. A standardized questionnaire about the circumstances proximal to death was used, with a probable cause of death assigned by a validated computer algorithm. Nasopharyngeal specimens from deceased persons were tested for COVID-19 using polymerase cha

SUBMITTER: Hines JZ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10980196 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature