COVID-19 Fatalities

India reported its second death due to COVID-19 recently. Health officials worldwide are working on calculating the fatality rate of the disease.

Case Fatality Rate

Case Fatality Rate or CFR is a term in epidemiology that gives the ratio of fatalities from a given disease to the total number of people infected with it. It is also known as Case Fatality Ratio or Case Fatality Risk.

Cytokine Storm

Several of the deaths due to COVID-19 is being attributed to a medical phenomenon called cytokine storm. In this process, the immune system of the patient starts attacking his/ her own tissues instead of the virus. Multi organ failure and acute respiratory distress are caused by the immune system attacking the lung tissues.

Vulnerable Section

The virus has claimed the lives of healthy people also. However, certain sections of the population have been found to be more vulnerable to the disease than others. People with compromised immune system, those with underlying chronic health issues, the elderly, etc. are more at risk of mortality than others.