4th COVID-19 death explained

March 13, 2020

Hospital Authority Chief Manager (Quality & Standards) Dr Lau Ka-hin:

For case 89, the 80-year-old gentleman passed away this morning.

Actually the patient had deterioration of his pneumonia since last week and he was put on non-invasive ventilation because his breathing was not good. 

At the same time, he was given the novel coronavirus treatment.
It is normal that a patient can have a bit of recovery during the course of the illness. However, the patient did not fully recover after medication or other treatment. So his condition deteriorated yesterday and, unluckily, the patient passed away this morning after further deterioration of his lung condition. 

The patient was suffering from hypertension, poliomyelitis, as well as a cardiovascular accident which happened years ago. His mobility was not good. He was mainly homebound, could not go out, and was chairbound.

Actually chronic illness is one of the risk factors of mortality in the coronavirus disease, which was confirmed in a report published in February this year.

(To watch the full press briefing with sign language interpretation, click here.)

The Hospital Authority today provided details regarding the city’s fourth COVID-19 death and emphasised that the 80-year-old patient suffered from existing health problems.

Hospital Authority Chief Manager (Quality & Standards) Dr Lau Ka-hin explained during a press briefing that it is normal for patients treated for COVID-19 to exhibit some recovery at first.

“Actually the patient had deterioration from pneumonia since last week and he was put on non-invasive ventilation because his breathing was not good. At the same time, he was given the novel coronavirus treatment.

“It is normal that a patient can have a bit of recovery during the course of the illness. However, the (patient) did not fully recover (after) medication or other treatment. So his condition deteriorated yesterday and, unluckily, the patient passed away this morning after further deterioration of his lung condition.”

Dr Lau stressed that the elderly patient had underlying illnesses and that is one of the risk factors for mortality of adult patients with COVID-19.

“The patient was suffering from hypertension, poliomyelitis, as well as a cardiovascular accident which happened years ago. His mobility was not good. He was mainly homebound, could not go out, and was chairbound.

“Actually chronic illness is one of the risk factors of mortality in the coronavirus disease, which was (confirmed) in a report published in February this year.”