**5. Conclusions**

In summary, most of the COVID-19 deaths in our study were of older age, male gender and had multiple comorbidities. Hematologically, lymphocytopenia and increased neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio were found in the COVID-19 mortalities. Similarly, elevated D-dimer and ferritin at admission were risk factors for death of adult patients with COVID-19. Evaluation of these factors during admission might help us for risk assessment and early triage of potential severe COVID-19 cases so that every possible effort can be made for the prompt managemen<sup>t</sup> of COVID-19 and avoidance of deaths.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, A.B., S.S., R.N., B.S.C.; methodology, S.S., A.B., R.N.; validation, A.B., B.S.C.; formal analysis, A.B., S.S.; investigation, R.N., K.M.; resources, K.M., B.S., B.S.C., P.T., P.B.; data curation, S.S., A.S., P.S.; writing—original draft preparation, S.S., R.N.; writing— review and editing, A.B., S.S., R.N., B.S., K.M., B.S.C., P.B., P.T., A.S., P.S.; supervision, A.B., B.S.C.; project administration, A.B., S.S., B.S.C. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** The study was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Institutional Review Board (or Ethics Committee) of Nepal Health Research Council (ERB Protocol registration No. 169/2021 P).

**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable. Hospital approval was taken for acquisition of medical records for conduction of research.

**Data Availability Statement:** Data will be made available from the corresponding author on request.

**Acknowledgments:** The authors would like to thank all the staffs of Sukraraj tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital for administrative and technical supports.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
