Friday 8 April 2021, Apia Samoa. Three positive covid-19 patients with severe comorbidities passed away at the Motootua National Hospital in the past 24 hours, however, they are yet to be verified as covid-related deaths.
Responding to questions from Samoa Global News, Acting Director General of Health, Dr Glenn Fatupaito, said there is a process of verification to determine if Covid-19 contributed to their deaths.
Dr. Fatupaito said one of the three patients not yet classified as a covid-related death, had been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of the Isolation 1 ward of the national hospital.
The patient was one of the three ICU cases reported by the NEOC on Thursday as being in critical condition at the ICU.
“There are now 2 patients at ICU. One passed away yesterday, however, we have not yet reported this as a covid-related case because we are still in the process of verification,” said Dr. Fatupaito.
“These numbers are published for Samoa and recorded as world-wide data for the global pandemic – and are also published on the W.H.O dashboard, so we need to ensure we have fully verified it before it is published,” he added.
Dr Fatupaito says a high percentage of Samoa’s population are comorbid, or have medical conditions that are simultaneously present in a patient.
“In the case of medically complex patients with comorbid conditions who also contract COVID19 and perish, we may need to reclassify the data to accurately reflect this,” said the Acting DG.
Dr Fatupaito confirms there are two patients currently in ICU. A woman in her late 30s and a 14-month-old baby in critical condition currently on ventilatory support.
The latest NEOC update confirms 263 new cases of Covid-19 detected in the past 24 hours with 1,712 of those active and over 1500 who have recovered.
We continue to pray for Samoa and the families of those in ICU and Isolation Wards, and especially the families of those have recently passed away.
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