According to autopsy data, 85% of Covid-19 deaths in Germany were caused by the virus and not just coincidental with it. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reports that 64,742 people in Germany have died from Covid-19 as of February 13, 2021. However, some members of the public believe that the RKI’s numbers are inflated and that people who died with but not from Covid-19 are being included in the statistics. A study by the Federal Association of German Pathologists (BDP) in August 2020 found that the virus was the cause of death in 86% of Covid-19 patients who died in German hospitals without any pre-existing conditions.
Researchers at the Institute of Pathology at the University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH) have conducted a new investigation to determine whether the majority of Covid-19 deaths in Germany were caused by the virus or just coincidental with it. The team, led by pathologist Christoph Röcken, has been conducting autopsies on people who contracted SARS-CoV-2 before their death. So far, they have examined the bodies of more than 50 people aged 53 to over 90 years old. The researchers have found that a large proportion of people recorded as Covid-19 deaths did indeed die from the virus. The UKSH is part of the German Research Network on Autopsies in Pandemics (DEFEAT PANDEMIcs), a project involving 34 German university hospitals whose autopsy results are stored in a central register. However, nationwide data is not yet available.
While the investigation is ongoing, preliminary results from other pathologists are consistent with Röcken’s findings, confirming that a large proportion of Covid-19 deaths in Germany were caused by the virus. The study provides important insights into the true impact of Covid-19 on mortality rates in Germany and may help to dispel any doubts about the accuracy of the RKI’s statistics.
