NSW Health switches to recording patients as dying 'with' Covid instead of 'from' after finally acknowledging many of Australia's 993 casualties died from something else or had even recovered from the virus

• e-mail

NSW Health has switched to recording patients as dying 'with' instead of 'from' Covid as it acknowledges not all of the country's 933 deaths were directly linked to the deadly virus. 

Dr Jeremy McAnulty made the admission during Sunday's Covid briefing as the state recorded 1,218 new cases of coronavirus. 

Six people died with Covid-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm on Saturday bringing the total death toll of this outbreak to 89 death since June 16. 

Dr McAnulty said the change in language was because it was 'very difficult to know' whether someone with Covid died from the virus, or another health complication.

Dr Jeremy McAnulty (pictured) from NSW Health announced the department would switch from recording patients as dying 'with' instead of 'from' Covid-19

'We know when elderly people die, they can have a range of comorbidities, and also, being old increases your risk of death,' he said.

'Covid may often play a role in the death, but it may not. Sometimes, some of our cases who have sadly died appear to have recovered from Covid, and then they have died of something [else].

'We report people who have died "with" Covid, unless there is a very clear alternative.' 

He added that it was difficult for doctors who were looking after patients to know exactly how much the virus contributed to their death. 

The symbolic change in language comes as NSW Health begins to acknowledge the country's 933 Covid deaths were not all direct results of the deadly virus. 

As explained by Dr McAnulty, some of the deaths previously reported as 'from Covid' were actually the consequence of another health condition or the victim had fully recovered from the virus before their death.  

Six people died with Covid-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm on Saturday bringing the total death toll of this outbreak to 89 death since June 16 (pictured, a vaccine clinic in Bankstown)

Earlier this month, Ady Al-Askar (pictured) a forklift truck driver from Liverpool collapsed in his shower after contracting Covid-19 from his wife Yasmin who works in aged care

Earlier this month, Ady Al-Askar a forklift truck driver from Liverpool collapsed in his shower after contracting Covid-19 from his wife Yasmin who works in aged care. 

The 27-year-old was isolating with his wife in their unit in Sydney's southwest and barely showed any Covid symptoms before his untimely death. 

However, heart conditions reportedly run in the Al-Askar family, and his cousin, Khalid Thijeel, told Daily Mail Australia he believed it was this that cost the man his life, not the virus. 

Mr Thijeel said his cousin, a factory worker, had not yet been vaccinated despite government directives for all Sydneysiders - particularly those living in hotspots - to get the jab. 

NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant said Mr Al-Askar was being cared for by the local health district but 'suddenly deteriorated'.

'He was being checked daily and he did complain of feeling a little fatigued but the deterioration happened suddenly, is my understanding. We are aware that with Covid you can get sudden deaths,' she said at the time.

Paramedics who responded to the emergency reportedly confirmed that Ms Al-Askar suffered heart failure, whereas the hospital and Dr Chant specified that Covid was a contributing factor in his death. 

Heart conditions reportedly run in the Al-Askar family, and his cousin, Khalid Thijeel, told Daily Mail Australia he believed it was this that cost Ady (pictured) his life, not the virus

Osama Suduh (pictured) from Sydney's Covid-hit south-west, became the state's youngest victim of Covid-19 after dying of meningitis in hospital on August 15

A few weeks later, Osama Suduh from Sydney's Covid-hit south-west, became the state's youngest recorded victim of Covid-19 - though he died of meningitis. 

The 15-year-old was admitted to hospital though with pneumococcal meningitis - a life-threatening infectious disease that causes inflammation of the layers surrounding the brain and spinal cord.

Osama was moved into intensive care and placed on life support after testing positive to Covid-19. 

The Kingsgrove North High School student is understood to have died at Sydney's Children Hospital in Randwick on August 15. 

The hospital said Osama was not vaccinated against Covid-19, as he was too young, but was up-to-date with his routine childhood vaccinations. 

'The family has agreed that we can indicate that he has pneumococcal meningitis,' Dr Chant said at the time.

Last Monday, a 30-year-old woman was found unresponsive at her home in Emerton, with NSW Health confirming she was Covid-positive when she died. 

Ianeta Isaako, a mother-of-three, tested positive to the virus just days before her condition took a turn for the worse.  

Dr Kerry Chant later confirmed Osama Suduh (pictured) had been admitted to hospital for pneumococcal meningitis but was also Covid-positive

There have been 145 NSW residents who have died with the virus since the start of the pandemic and 933 total deaths across the country (pictured, people exercising on Sunday)

There are 145 NSW residents who have died with Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic and 933 total deaths across the country.    

Of the six deaths reported on Sunday, three were aged in their 80s and three were aged in their 70s. 

One of the men in his 80s lived in southwest Sydney and died at Nepean Hospital where he acquired the infection, bringing that cluster to a total of five deaths. 

Another man aged in his 80s caught the virus at the Wyoming Aged Care facility in Sydney's inner west and died at Concord Hospital, bringing that outbreak to five deaths. 

There are 813 patients in hospital with Covid with 126 people in intensive care, 54 of whom require ventilators.