“The apparent increase in the number of Covid-19 deaths is due to a data comparison between the cause of death statistics from Statistics Austria and the Epidemiological Reporting System (EMS),” said a statement from the ministry.
Almost 20,000 dead
The deaths that have now been reported relate to the period up to the end of 2021. By Tuesday, the number of 16,439 people who had died of or with Covid-19 had been reported. With the late reports, the number of infected people who have died since the beginning of the pandemic more than two years ago has risen to 19,851.
The ministry emphasized that the affected cases are already in the EMS, only the death data not previously recorded in the EMS will be imported into the EMS case report on Wednesday. This comparison is carried out so that the data is uniform and of high quality, the statement said.
Annual data reconciliation
The subsequently reported deaths were already listed in the cause of death statistics of Statistics Austria. They include deaths with Covid-19 as an underlying condition or as a concomitant disease that was not yet recorded in the EMS due to a reporting delay.
The late registration process takes place as part of an annual data comparison, which is carried out by the Ministry and AGES in cooperation with Statistics Austria in the interests of quality assurance. Laboratory-confirmed infected people who did not have the status “recovered/cured” in the EMS between the status “disease” and the status “death” are considered to have died from Covid-19.
“Total Failure”
The SPÖ sees in the subsequent report “further evidence of the complete failure of the federal government in pandemic management,” said the red health spokesman Philip Kucher in a broadcast. “It’s about ten deaths a day, ten fates, ten affected families that were simply forgotten by this federal government,” criticized Kucher and demanded an immediate statement from Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) and Health Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens).
“After more than two years of the corona pandemic, this federal government is still not in a position to centrally manage the corona data and make it available in a well-processed and transparent manner,” Kucher stated, repeating the SPÖ’s call for a central crisis and uniform data management.
Smoke let off steam
Health Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) does not want to be seen as idle when preparing for a possible new corona wave. On Tuesday he let off steam on Twitter: “We are NOW preparing for autumn,” he commented on the “spring chirping” of his critics in the short message service. Depending on the virus variant, different scenarios are planned, the minister assured.
“Some scold me as ‘negligent inspector’, others ‘executor of senseless measures’,” Rauch vented. The fact is: “I move on the foundation of expertise (scientific) and proportionality (constitutional conformity).” That will be too little for some, too much for others, said the minister and continued: “I bear the responsibility for it.”
Source: Nachrichten
