PERSPECTIVE Call for proper documentation of COVID-19 deaths in poor resource setting: a necessity for management of future occurrences Ahoma V. Mbanuzuru a , Chukwuemeka C. Okoro b , Chinyere M. Mbanuzuru c and Christian C. Ibeh a a Department of Community Medicine, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH), Nnewi, Nigeria; b Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH), Nnewi, Nigeria; c Department of Animal Production, Ministry of Agriculture, Awka, Nigeria ABSTRACT Introduction: A Pandemic is an epidemic at a global scale. The word ‘epidemic’ has the potential to lead to chaotic, unreasoned responses to health problems, especially when used by journalists. Nigeria like other poor resource countries is equally affected by the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID- 19) pandemic. Standardization and proper documentation of the mortality of the COVID-19 in the poor- resource countries will help in managing other disease outbreaks in future. This paper calls for improvement in capturing of these data for better planning in the future. Areas covered: Quality data is very essential for policy makers to appreciate any disease condition. In order to present a comprehensive picture of COVID-19 mortality, the deaths were broadly grouped into two as follows: direct and indirect COVID-19 deaths. Most of the current reported deaths seem to be direct deaths. Expert opinion: We propose that for better estimation and standardization, verbal autopsy could be used to differentiate direct/indirect COVID deaths. At full development, this model could be applied to other diseases, outbreaks, or pandemics. The disease surveillance officers, and other health workers can be trained in this regard as well as scaling up the e-surveillance of the DSNOs. ARTICLE HISTORY Received 18 April 2020 Accepted 23 July 2020 KEYWORDS COVID-19; deaths; poor- resource setting; Nigeria; disease surveillance notification officers (DSNOs) 1. Introduction Pandemic is epidemic at a global scale. Epidemic is the occur- rence in excess of normal of an illness, health event, or health- related behavior that occurs in a specific place or among a group [1]. The word ‘epidemic’ has the potential to lead to chaotic, unreasoned responses to health problems, especially when used by the journalists. Most practicing public health professionals would use words like ‘outbreak’, ‘cluster’ to avoid unreasoned responses [1]. Nigeria like other poor-resource countries is equally affected by the current coronavirus dis- ease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Standardization and proper documentation of the mortality (and morbidity) of the COVID- 19 in the poor-resource countries will help in managing other disease outbreaks in future. This paper calls for improvement in capturing these data better planning in the future. Coronaviruses are not unknown in human history. They are enveloped positive-strand RNA viruses with helical capsid structures enclosed in the viral envelope formed by the com- plex of the nucleocapsid protein and the genome RNA. The envelope has peplomers embedded on it formed by the tri- mers of the spike proteins. The corona got its name from its crown-like morphology. They cause diseases which are part of emerging and reemerging diseases of public health impor- tance. They constitute a large family of viruses that can cause diseases in humans ranging from common cold to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) seen first in China in 2002, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) first seen in Saudi Arabia in 2012, to now COVID-19, first seen in Wuhan China in late 2019 [2–4]. COVID-19 is caused by a novel coronavirus called SARS- CoV2. The disease most commonly presents with fever, cough, and fatigue [5–8]. It can also present with other respiratory tract symptoms like rhinorrhea, sneezing, sore throat, dyspnea, and hemoptysis [5–8]. Severe forms of the diseases can lead to pulmonary failure and death arising from acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) [7,8]. Other possible complications seen in COVID -19 include septic shock and multi-organ failure, including acute kidney injury and cardiac injury [9]. Most patients with COVID-19 will present with mild illness (80%), 15% will be severely ill and require supplemental oxy- gen while only about 5% will require intensive care unit (ICU) care [10]. Old age and co-morbid diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), hypertension, and dia- betes mellitus increase the risk of death [5,11]. The World Health Organization (WHO) corroborates that most people who become infected with COVID-19 experi- ence mild illness and recover, but the disease may be more severe for others [12]. According to the Nigeria’s National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) National interim guide- line for clinical management of COVID -19, there are var- ious modes of transmission of the virus including person-to- CONTACT Ahoma V. Mbanuzuru mvahoma@gmail.com Department of Community Medicine, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH), Nnewi, Anambra State, Nigeria EXPERT REVIEW OF ANTI-INFECTIVE THERAPY 2021, VOL. 19, NO. 1, 17–21 https://doi.org/10.1080/14787210.2020.1801418 © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group