COVID tapers but 10-fold spike in pneumonia cases

Even as the COVID-19 numbers have been on the decline for the past several weeks in Tamil Nadu including Chennai, which has been a hotspot since the pandemic unravelled in the state, the number of pneumonia cases and related deaths has alarmingly increased manifold in all the city government hospitals.

Government hospitals in the city that reported less than 500 cases of pneumonia cases in a year have seen cases above 5,000 cases this year. The Kilpauk Medical College and Hospital recorded a total of 311 cases of pneumonia cases in 2019 but between January 1, 2020 to November 30, 2020, at least 4,503 pneumonia cases that were not related to COVID 19 were reported. Stanley Medical College and Hospital saw just about 270 cases last year, but the cases have crossed about 3,000 till this year November.

As several patients who contract COVID 19 also died of pneumonia, authorities admit that they don’t have the exact number of non-COVID-10 pneumonia deaths, but doctors at the RGGGH and Omandurar Multi-super Specialty Government General Hospital have acknowledged the rise in pneumonia cases and deaths.

As both COVID-19 and pneumonia have similar symptoms, there have been rumours that several cases of COVID-19 are being categorised as pneumonia. Sources reveal that families of COVID-19 victims too prefer the death certificate to show pneumonia as the cause of death as they can perform the last rites more easily. However, this claim has been dismissed by experts. “Many deaths due to pneumonia give a CT scan impression similar to COVID-19 but swab test results test negative. Thus, the count of deaths due to pneumonia has remained high, even after COVID-19 linked deaths have declined in the State. We have been receiving such cases for the past few months,” said Dr A Mahilmaran, director of Institute of Thoracic Medicine at RGGGH. However, he added that pneumonia deaths are recorded along with other comorbidities and not just as pneumonia deaths.