COVID-19 most common cause of death in Slovakia in early 2021

COVID-19 was the most common cause of death in Slovakia in the first quarter of this year, making up 39 percent of all deaths in the country, the Statistics Office reported on Thursday. A total of 9,400 people died of coronavirus in Slovakia from January to March, which was 39 percent of the total of 24,000 deaths reported in the country. "Coronavirus caused four in ten deaths in Slovakia. The new infection was at the same time the most common cause of death in the country, outstripping circulatory system diseases and cancer, which were the two most common causes of death before," stated the office. Along with 4,000 victims of the pandemic last year, the novel coronavirus killed almost 13,400 people in the country. Almost four in five people who died of coronavirus in the first quarter of this year were older than 65. The highest share in the total number of deaths were elderly in the 75+ category (49 percent). People in productive age accounted for 21 percent of victims of the disease. Four children up to 14 years of age succumbed to the novel coronavirus, too.