Novel corona virus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, which started in China's Hubei province in 2019, has caused a significant loss of human lives globally. This study describes the epidemiologic and clinical profiles of COVID-19 related deaths among patients admitted to treatment centers in Sidama region, Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study of 186 in hospital COVID-19 related deaths that occurred from July 2020 to December 2021 in Sidama region were analyzed. Data was extracted from regional emergency operation center death report. Data was entered using Epidata v3.1 and analysis was done using SPSS v.20. Categorical data was summarized using frequency and percentage while continuous data was summarized using median and interquartile range. Association between variables was assessed using chi-square test. More than two-third of the deceased patients were male (135; 72.6%) and median age at death was 60. The majority of deaths (151; 81.1%) occurred in 2021, while April 2021 had the highest death records. Cough and shortness of breath were the main presenting symptoms occurring in 89.2% and 85.5% of deceased patients respectively. Most of the COVID-19 related deaths (64.5%) had associated comorbidities. Diabetes (50%) and Hypertension (39.2%) were the most prevalent comorbidities. Significant proportion of patients (74.73%) presented on severe end of disease spectrum (critical/ severe). Of the deceased patients, around two-third required Intensive care unit (ICU) admission and 111 of them were put on mechanical ventilator. Moreover, the median ICU stay was 4 days. Around half of the death (48.4%) occurred in the first 5 days. The median survival time from symptom onset was 11.5 days with most (43.5%) of the deaths occurring within the first 14 days of symptom onset. Age category was significantly associated with the number of days from onset to death (p=0.006). The case fatality rate was 1.87% which is lower than national and global reports. Unlike previous studies, the prevalence of asthma among deceased patients was low and there were no patients with documented COPD.

This research is conducted with main aim of assessing the economic consequences of Covid-19 pandemic in Western Ethiopia. Primary data is collected through questionnaire and interview from 320 respondents living in three zones of Western Ethiopia. The study areas (zones) are selected purposively from Oromia region; however, the respondents are sampled by employing random sampling technique. The respondents were stratified as community members, daily laborer, business owners, government sector and NGOs employees. Exploratory research design was adopted to achieve the research objectives. Simple descriptive statistics and ordinary least square regression model are used to analyze and interpret the collected data. The study results disclose that majority of community have good awareness about the pandemic and social interaction is reduced due to social distancing. Majority of respondents realize the negative impact of Covid-19 on their economy; reduction of office services; and reduced access to market; and absence of strong support from the government. The great severity of Covid-19 impacts is failed on daily laborers. The regression result shows that sales, experience in business, education level in years, employment status of the respondent, number of workers in the business and work hours per week are positively and significantly influencing daily income of business owner before and after the pandemic outbreak. It is advised the stakeholders to give frequent follow-up and support particularly for daily laborers and small business holders to reduce the future socio-economic impacts of Covid-19 pandemic.