District collector Naval Kishore Ram said theadministration was working on a treatment protocol for COVID-19 patients and conducting an assessment of casualties so far.
"We are probing to find out if patients had died onlybecause of comorbidity or there were other factors involved.We are taking help from private doctors," he said.
Experts are also trying to understand how a patient'shealth deteriorates in the isolation period and the causesbehind it, the collector said.
Citing the factors that lead to COVID-19 deaths, Ramsaid not all patients died of pneumonia and every case wasdifferent.
"Pulmonary ailments and respiratory failure are alsosome of the major causes for these deaths," he said.
The authorities were also trying to figure out whatthey may encounter in the next stage of the pandemic, headded.
"We have set up an expert committee and approached 10to 15 private medical practitioners to join us," he said.
Appealing to doctors from private hospitals, thecollector said the district administration will take care oftheir fees and cost of the equipment.
According to health officials from the Pune MunicipalCorporation, so far 26 people with comorbidities had succumbedto the virus in the district, of whom two were in their 70s,13 in their 60s and seven in their 50s.
Incidentally, none of the deceased COVID-19 patientshad history of foreign travel. SPKARU ARU