What is the prevalence of COVID-19 detection by PCR among deceased individuals in Lusaka, Zambia? A postmortem surveillance study.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

To determine the prevalence of COVID-19 postmortem setting in Lusaka, Zambia.

Design

A systematic, postmortem prevalence study.

Setting

A busy, inner-city morgue in Lusaka.

Participants

We sampled a random subset of all decedents who transited the University Teaching Hospital morgue. We sampled the posterior nasopharynx of decedents using quantitative PCR. Prevalence was weighted to account for age-specific enrolment strategies.

Interventions

Not applicable-this was an observational study.

Primary outcomes

Prevalence of COVID-19 detections by PCR. Results were stratified by setting (facility vs community deaths), age, demographics and geography and time.

Secondary outcomes

Shifts in viral variants; causal inferences based on cycl

SUBMITTER: Gill CJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9729848 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature