Doctors are concerned about the Indian Council of Medical Research's (ICMR) latest guidelines asking them to record underlying cause of death as COVID-19, even if the test report is negative, or inconclusive, or if test report is awaited.

The doctors arguing these guidelines have cited medical text books and other supportive medical guidelines, which have clearly stated that if viruses test positive, only then they can be stated 'as cause of death.' For instance, an HIV infected person's test report coming positive for HIV will only then be reflected in the cause of death, and a negative HIV report will never be mentioned. The experts pointed out that a person 'dying with virus' and a person 'dying of virus' have a vast difference, but they claim that ICMR guidelines have also brought this under one umbrella.