I don't know if you're being pedantic, or what exactly.

The definition of infection on wikipedia is "An infection is the invasion of an organism's body tissues by disease-causing agents, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agents and the toxins they produce."

The infection killing patients is not "the coronavirus". The coronavirus is a particular kind of virus, specifically known as SARS-CoV-2. COVID-19 is, by definition "an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)". So to be pendantic, COVID-19 is the infection that is killing patients. The question of, by what mechanism the particular disease causing agents are producing the deadly reaction, is in fact is perfectly described by the headline.