Coronavirus

Characteristics of COVID-19 patients dying in Italy

Soon after the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic hit Italy in February 2020, the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS) established an ad hoc integrated (microbiological and epidemiological) surveillance system.

Mortality data are traditionally collected and processed by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) through its death certificates. In addition, considering the exceptional circumstances of the pandemic and the resulting state of emergency, and in line with the Ministry of Health circular 0007922 of 09/03/2020, the ISS started collecting and reviewing samples of medical records obtained from the Regions in order to assess the main characteristics of COVID-19 deaths.

The data were presented in periodic reports entitled “Characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 patients dying in Italy”, published (at first almost daily, and then weekly, fortnightly and monthly) in Italian and English, alongside a summary infographic, on this page of the EpiCentro-ISS website of the integrated surveillance.

Since the state of emergency was lifted, on 30 March 2022, clinical facilities have stopped providing their medical records and death certificates (although all of them continue to be processed by ISTAT). As a result, the in-depth reports describing the characteristics of COVID-19 deaths are no longer being published. 

Search the “Characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 patients dying in Italy” report archive.