Covid Death Certificate Rules Out After Supreme Court's "3rd Wave" Rebuke

The centre's affidavit in the top court has been submitted nearly 10 days after the top court rapped the central government over the delay in issuing guidelines for the issuance of Covid death certificates.

The government has informed the Supreme Court that the Health Ministry and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) have come out with guidelines for issuing an "official document" for Covid-related deaths. The affidavit in the top court has been submitted nearly 10 days after the top court rapped the central government over the delay in issuing guidelines for the issuance of Covid death certificates. Only those COVID-19 cases will be considered, say the guidelines, which have been diagnosed through RT-PCR test, molecular test, rapid-antigen test or clinically determined through investigations at a hospital or in-patient facility by a treating physician, while admitted at hospital or in-patient facility. Deaths occurring due to poisoning, suicide, homicide and accident, among others, will not be considered as COVID-19 deaths even if the infection is an accompanying condition, the document further elaborates.  Patients who have "died either in hospital settings or at home, and where a Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) in Form 4 and 4 A has been issued to the registering authority as required under Section 10 of the Registration of Birth and Death (RBD) Act, 1969, will be treated as a COVID-19 death," the guidelines read.