COVID-19 infection fatality rate: a new approach
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20203943Keywords:
COVID-19, Infection fatality rate, Health care planningAbstract
Infection fatality rate (IFR) in COVID 19 is a useful parameter for health-care planning during the current COVID-19 pandemic. The sensitivity of the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test, the rate of mortality reporting (MRR) in a country and the number of RT-PCR tests done per million population are the factors that influence the true infection fatality rate. In this article we present a ready reckoner for estimating the infection fatality rate for COVID-19, for a given RT PCR test sensitivity and mortality reporting rate for use in middle and low-income countries with resource constraints. We further demonstrate the inverse relationship between infection fatality rate and the number of tests done.
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